You have $120m – do you buy a masterpiece or 29 Ferraris?
Dealers and collectors are coming to terms with the huge price paid for the recently sold Botticelli portrait and what that means for new art market values.
The sale of Sandro Botticelli’s Young Man Holding a Roundel’ has sparked debate about art values. AP
In the lead-up to its auction in New York, Sotheby’s sent a 15th century painting by the early Italian Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli on a world tour, travelling from New York to Dubai, London and Los Angeles in an effort to drum up interest.
While the painting was in London, a group of dealers, collectors and curators who’d gathered to admire it got to talking: Was the “in excess of $US80 million ($104 million)” estimate reasonable for an exquisitely preserved portrait of a beautiful young man in a sumptuous mauve doublet? Opinions varied to such a degree that an informal wager began. Everyone wrote down their bet on a piece of paper; the furthest from the correct price would have to buy the rest of them dinner.
