Christie's to offer Raphael’s masterpiece

Drawing ‘Head of the Muse’ will be offered at a London auction of old masters and was estimated to fetch between 12 and 16 million pounds.

Auction house Christie's will offer a drawing by Renaissance master Raphael. The drawing is basically a study for the figure of the Vatican fresco and it is expected to fetch a record price.

Drawing titled ‘Head of the Muse’ will be offered at a London auction of  the 19^th century masters and it was estimated to fetch between 12 and 16 million pounds.

The current record for drawing done by an old master is held by  Michelangelo's ‘Risen Christ’, which was sold for 8.1 million pounds in 2000. It is followed by Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Horse and Rider’, sold in 2001.

Raphael’s drawing is a study for a character in ‘Parnassus,’ one of a series of four frescoes in the Stanza della Segnatura commissioned by the Vatican’s Pope Julius II. The painting was made between 1508 and 1511, and Christie's says that the general opinion is that the series are “considered the greatest work done by the artist”.