Da Vinci's sketch of a bear's head sold for a record $ 12.2 million
Created by Leonardo da Vinci, a sketch called “Bear's Head” was sold at Christie's in London for a record £ 8.86 million ($ 12.2 million), reports TASS.
The sketch, measuring seven by seven centimeters, was made in silver pencil on pink-beige paper.
During the conversation with the agency's correspondents, the representatives of the auction house noted that we are talking about a record cost for Da Vinci's drawing. The previous record was set 20 years ago, when his work titled Horse and Rider was sold at Christie's for £ 8.1 million ($ 11.5 million).
According to experts, the sketch for “Bear's Head” was created in the early 1480s, presumably before the artist moved from Florence to Milan.
Art critics associate this image with three more drawings of animals made by da Vinci from nature. It is believed that all of them were part of the collection of one or more sketchbooks, which the master later used to work on full-fledged paintings.
However, to date, there is no confirmation that da Vinci transferred the image of a bear to any of his works. Probably, the artist used a sketch of an animal's head when depicting an ermine in the portrait of Cecilia Gallerani “Lady with an Ermine”.
Earlier it was reported that the world's largest painting on canvas “The Journey of Humanity”, painted by British artist Sasha Jafri, was sold at an auction in Dubai for $ 62 million.
