Sotheby's, Botticelli's Vir Dolorum sold for $45.4 million

One year after the record sale of Sandro Botticelli’s $92.2 million Portrait of a Young Man with Medallion, the same artist’s Vir Dolorum went to auction at Sotheby ’s today as expected.

A few days ago the latter painting had provided a wonderful surprise with the discovery, thanks to infrared analysis, of a drawing depicting the profile of a Madonna that Botticelli had erased. Estimated at $40 million, after seven minutes the work sold for $45.4 million, including auction fees.

The painting has already been requested for the exhibition Botticelli and Renaissance Florence: Masterworks from the Uffizi, to be held at the Minneapolis Institute of Art from Oct. 15, 2022 to Jan. 8, 2023.

The work belonged to the collection of Edward John Sartoris (1814-1888), a British politician, and his wife Adelaide Kemble Sartoris (1815-1879), a famous opera singer. Adelaide’s great-granddaughter, Pamela Margaret Stanley, sold the painting in 1963, which remained in the collections of the current owners to this day.

Sotheby's, Botticelli's Vir Dolorum sold for $45.4 million

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