Michelangelo’s 5-Inch Foot Sketch Could Fetch $2 Million at Auction

A small chalk drawing of a man’s right foot, measuring just 5 inches, is expected to sell for a minimum of $2 million after Christie’s auction house announced a connection to Michelangelo’s famed Sistine Chapel ceiling.

This unique artwork is thought to depict a male model who inspired one of the figures painted by the Renaissance artist in the celebrated fresco located in the Vatican, according to officials.

Currently owned by an anonymous seller from Northern California, this small yet remarkable piece is anticipated to set a record as the priciest foot sketch sold when it goes up for auction in February.

Christie’s noted that auctioning records related to the Sistine Chapel is unprecedented.

Giada Damen, an expert in Old Master Drawings at Christie’s, expressed awe at the sketch. “Standing in front of this drawing, you can truly appreciate Michelangelo’s creativity. The force with which he pressed the red chalk onto the paper gives the foot a vivid physical presence,” she explained.

Dating back to 1511, this sketch is believed to have been created for the figure of the priestess known as the Sibyl of Libya, situated at the eastern end of the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

The seller, who inherited the sketch from a grandmother in 2002, mentioned that it had been part of their family collection dating back to at least the late 1700s.

Though the man preferred to stay anonymous for security reasons, he is a direct descendant of Armand-Francois-Louis de Mestral de Saint-Saphorin, an 18th-century Swiss diplomat famous for collecting Old Master artworks.

Damen recalled her initial reaction to the drawing, stating, “I thought it was lovely and felt excited. It had that distinct 16th-century look. The client had labeled it as ‘Michelangelo,’ but I receive many pieces with similar attributions.”

Since the sketch isn’t signed, Damen flew to California to persuade the owner to allow her to bring it back to New York for authentication.

“Expensive artworks spark healthy debate. I had to thoroughly verify this,” she said, acknowledging the possibility of it being a copy. However, tests at Christie’s New York branch revealed that the paper corresponded with examples from the 16th century, allowing experts to connect it with another sketch by Michelangelo held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In early November, the drawing was exhibited in a private area at Christie’s London office. “When I held it to the light, I could see the underlying black chalk outline,” she recounted.

According to Andrew Fletcher, the global head of Old Masters at Christie’s, the painting is predicted to be linked to an earlier figure also located on the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling. It’s one of only two remaining pieces from the Sistine Ceiling in private ownership, recently recognized in a study depicting a red-chalk male nude.

Of the thousands of sketches Michelangelo made throughout his life, only around 600 are known to survive today. Notably, in 1518, Michelangelo instructed his assistants to destroy all sketches used for the Sistine ceiling, rendering this Northern California find particularly astonishing.