Day 4257: Michelangelo and Cable text.

 

"Drama": junk digital collage

 

 

 

  

Want music?

 

    

Click : Jacksons, Show You the Way.

 

  

 

 

2GN2S

Tiny Michelangelo Sketch of a Marble Block Sells for 33 Times Its Estimate

The scribble by Michelangelo brought in more than $200,000.

Michelangelo Buonarroti, Diagram of a rectangular block of marble.

A drawing by the famed Renaissance master Michelangelo has sold for $201,600 at Christie’s. The auction house expected the drawing, which went under the hammer on April 17, to sell for between $6,000 and $8,000. Instead, a surprisingly competitive bidding war resulted in an anonymous buyer purchasing the item for more than 33 times its low estimate.

The drawing isn’t so much a drawing as it is a scribble: a quick diagram of a block of marble Michelangelo sketched in preparation for one of his many ambitious projects, possibly the Sistine Chapel. The drawing is accompanied by the word “simile,” meaning “similar” in English, leading Old Masters specialist Giada Damen, who helped Christie’s verify the document, to speculate it was likely produced as part of a communication with a marble quarry or shipping firm from where Michelangelo got his materials.

Although the Renaissance artist did not sign the 1.8 by 2.6 inch drawing, experts consulted by Christie’s feel confident that it was made by his hand. Their certainty is derived from the relatively clear provenance of an attached letter written by Michelangelo’s descendent Cosimo Buonarroti in 1836, in which he offers the work from his “illustrious forefather” to Sir John Browning, the future Governor of Hong Kong, whose signature can be found on the bottom of the page.

“The enclosed writing and outline of Michelangelo was given on this day by his descendant Cosimo Buonarroti,” the letter, originally written in Italian, reads.

Michelangelo relied on drawing throughout his practice as he designed his two- and three-dimensional works. He destroyed most of these drawings before his death in 1564—”so that no one should see the labors he endured and the ways he tested his genius,” wrote Vasari in The Lives of the Artists—though more than 200 sheets have survived, including his sketches of marble blocks. 

That this latest drawing ended up selling for far above its asking price should not come as a surprise, as Michelangelo’s work routinely sells for record-breaking numbers. The previous time one of Michelangelo’s diagrams went under the hammer at Christie’s, in 2008, it passed hands for more than $90,000 against an estimate of between $12,500 and $18,800.

In 2022, Christie’s sold an actual sketch—believed to be the artist’s first-known nude—for $24 million, beating the $10.1 million sale of his drawing, The Risen Christ, in 2000.

UH-OH!

Sunday, around 11 am when I decided to turn the television, I saw a message saying something like, if the outage continues, call this number.

It required me to call in and verify my identity, then the recording said that my area was having trouble but they were already working on it. I agreed to the text option where they update the progress. They originally texted 12:20, then 2:20, 6:20 and the last estimate was 10:20 pm, each time saying "it's taking longer than expected."

I watch a lot of sports, and especially on Sundays. I did work on the blogs, but I wanted to watch something. So I pulled up some videos of

It's 8:20 pm and I am finishing up this blog for you tomorrow and I didn't want to read my terrific book

 but since I'm on page 305 and only have 70+ pages to go, I have been rationing my reading time. Do you do that? I usually read before I go to sleep. Do you do that? The blog is done, as of this paragraph, so I may have some strawberries and ice cream. Do you do that?  And, then to the book! TMI??

Do you ever do that?

 

 

 

 

  

 

A 4  minute video, Borders, here

 

 

 

  

Just because ...

 

 

 

  

 

 Monday's Smiles ...