Old sketch is da Vinci worth $16M, retired doctor is told

A drawing believed to be by Italian master Leonardo da Vinci was discovered in Paris when a retired doctor brought a portfolio of works to Tajan auction house for a valuation.

What’s more, the auction house estimates “The Martyred Saint Sebastian” could be worth as much as 15 million euros ($16 million).

“The doctor couldn’t have imagined there could have been something so important in his portfolio,” says Thaddée Prate, director of Old Masters paintings at the French boutique auction house.

“Discoveries happen, yes, but with lower importance, of course. Leonardo, I think this will be only once in a lifetime.”

An astonishing find

“The Martyred Saint Sebastian” depicts the early Christian saint bound to a tree. This new discovery is the third known da Vinci sketch of the subject. The artist mentioned eight drawings of the saint in his Codex Atlanticus.

The doctor, whose identity has not been disclosed, brought 14 drawings inherited from his father to Prate’s Paris office in March. He’d had the drawings for years, but only after retiring did he resolve to have them valued.

A view of the back of the drawing "The Martyred Saint Sebastian."

Prate assumes the doctor’s father, a book collector, acquired the drawings at a bookstore in the early 20th century, as they had all been mounted on paper mats rather than framed.

Intrigued by the drawing’s apparent age, Prate enlisted Patrick de Bayser, an expert in the valuation of Old Masters drawings, to confirm the artist. The paper frame had the name Michelangelo, but the expert doubted that was the artist of this particular drawing.

Noticing the traces of markings on the back, de Bayser removed the drawing from its backing, revealing diagrams of light and shadow and notes written right-to-left – further suggesting a left-handed artist like da Vinci.

Soon after, Carmen C. Bambach, curator of Italian and Spanish drawings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the world’s pre-eminent da Vinci authority, confirmed the attribution, describing it as “quite incontestable” and an “open-and-shut case” in an interview with the New York Times. She estimates the drawing was completed between 1482 and 1485.

A new record?

If all goes according to plan, Rodica Seward, president of Tajan, says “The Martyred Saint Sebastian” will hit the auction block in early June as part of its annual Old Masters sale, with an estimated price of 15 million euros ($16 million) – $4 million more than the current record for a da Vinci sketch, set in 2001 at a Christie’s auction.

“It’s not comparable (to the other drawings),” Seward says. “This is a very unusual drawing, it’s very complete. It’s got a background and scenery behind, which none of the other Saint Sebastian drawings have. This is an incredible discovery.”

Pablo Picasso, Femme Assise, (1909). Oil on canvas. Price Realized -- $43,269,000 —

One June 21, 2016, Pablo Picasso's "Femme Assise," one of the artist's earliest Cubist paintings, sold for ￡43.2 million ($63.4 million) at a Sotheby's London auction, becoming the most expensive Cubist painting ever sold at auction.

Edvard Munch, The Scream, (1895). Pastel on board in the original frame -- Price realized: $119,922,500 —

The sale of Edvard Munch's "The Scream" to billionaire Leon Black for $119.9 million in 2012 marked more than a new art record: it was the first time that a pastel, rather than an oil or acrylic painting, came anywhere near achieving such a price. This was in part due to the overwhelming popularity and international fame of the image, and the fact that it is the only version of Munch's signature work that is not owned by a museum.

Gerhard Richter, Abstraktes Bild, (1994). Oil on canvas -- Price realized: $34,190,757 —

Rock star Eric Clapton sold his "Abstraktse Bild" by art star Gerhard Richter in 2012 for ￡21.3 million, establishing a new record for a living artist and the highest price ever paid for a Gerhard Richter painting. One of the most popular artists at the moment, the octogenarian has seen his work increase in value by over 600 percent in the past ten years, according to art market analysts. His oeuvre is celebrated as much for its range and versatility as for its virtuosity: his paintings tend to focus equally on the intellectual and the aesthetic. This is a particularly strong work, but the provenance -- coming from Clapton's private collection -- made the painting particularly attractive.

Vincent van Gogh, Portrait of Dr. Gachet, (1890). Oil on canvas -- Price Realized: $82,500,000 —

Vincent van Gogh's "Portrait of Dr. Gachet" rocked the art world in 1990 when it sold to Tokyo's Kobayashi gallery for $82.5 million at Christie's-- more than twice the previous auction record. A portrait of Van Gogh's doctor, Paul-Ferdinand Gachet, of whom the artist was particularly fond, the painting had belonged previously to financier and philanthropist Siegfried Kramarsky, on long-term loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Pablo Picasso, Gar?on a la Pipe, (1905). Oil on canvas -- Price Realized: $104,168,000 —

Pablo Picasso's "Gar?on a la Pipe" broke the $100 million ceiling when it sold at Sotheby's for over $104 million in May, 2004 -- the first painting to exceed the record set in 1990 for the "Dr.Gachet." (Interestingly, both "Dr. Gachet "and the "Gar?on" achieved their record prices exactly 100 years after having been created by their artists.) Sotheby's Senior Vice President David Norman called the iconic painting "the finest work in public hands that was for sale."

Roy Lichtenstein, Nurse, (1964). Oil and Magna on canvas -- Price Realized: $95,365,000 —

Christie's billed pop artist Roy Lichtenstein's nurse as the "quintessential Lichtenstein heroine," a "femme fatale," and called the painting itself a "dazzling masterpiece." Collectors must have been convinced, bidding the work up to a record price for the artist at $95,365,000 in November 2015.

Pablo Picasso, Les femmes d'Alger (Version 'O'), (1955). Oil on canvas -- Price Realized: $179,365,000 —

Setting a world record for an artwork sold at auction when it was purchased by the Qatari royal family in 2015, Les femmes d'Alger is in many ways the quintessential collectible Picasso: bold colors, fragmented planes, nude women, and art historical references (in this case, to Delacroix and Matisse). The work had previously sold for $31.9 million in Christie's 1997 auction of the collection of Victor and Sally Ganz -- a sale that many say ignited the current art boom.

Lucian Freud, Benefits Supervisor Resting, (1994). Oil on canvas -- Price Realized: $56,165,000 —

The portrait of the ample-bodied Sue Tilley, a British government worker, was one of four such paintings the British artist produced of the woman he called "Fat Sue." Described by Christie's in its catalogue as "one of the most remarkable paintings of the human figure ever produced." The portrait -- for which Ms. Tilly reportedly earned ￡20 per day as a model -- achieved a record for the artist when it sold at Christie's New York in May, 2015.

Amedeo Modigliani, Nu couché, (1917-1918). Oil on canvas -- Price Realized: $170,405,000 —

Appetite for Modigliani's work had already been on the rise when this rare nude came up for sale. The work's extraordinary provenance, literature and exhibition history added to its desirability, helping it set a new record for the artist -- and one of the highest prices ever set at auction -- when it sold at Christie's in November, 2015 to a Chinese billionaire bidding by telephone.

Georgia O'Keeffe, Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1, (1932). Oil on canvas -- Price Realized: $44,405,000 —

Long one of America's favorite home-grown artists, Georgia O'Keeffe is celebrated mostly for her magnificent flower paintings -- like this Jimson Weed , which shattered all records for the highest price ever paid for a work by a woman artist -- nearly quadrupling the previous record of $11.9 million set by Joan Mitchell just a few months prior. What's more, the work was also purchased by a woman: Walmart heiress Alice Walton, who bought it on behalf of the Crystal Bridges Museum (of which she is the founder).

Art auctions: A look at the top record breakers

Prev Next

“(Da Vinci is) the most important artist from all over the world, I think, from any time. Each little point we can add to his work is very important for our knowledge of the artist and his work,” Prate added.

But before that auction can go forward, there are a few uncertainties to be overcome. The drawing must first be approved for a passport, allowing it to be sold internationally.

Until then, French national museums have the opportunity to preempt the sale, negotiating with the house directly under the claim that it’s a national treasure.

But Seward is hopeful that it will be opened to the international community.

“We applied for the passport,” she says. “Now it’s in God’s hands.”