A 500-year-old pencil drawing has been identified as Michelangelo's work for the world-famous Sistine Chapel in the Vatican: The study of the right foot of the "Libyan Sibyl", an ancient seer, is to be auctioned off at Christie's auction house on 5 February for an estimated price of 1.5 to 2 million US dollars, as reported by the newspaper "La Repubblica".
The sketch, which has been in the possession of a European family since the 18th century, has been uploaded to the auction house's portal.
Giada Damen, a specialist in Old Master drawings at the company, recognised the 13.5 x 11.5 centimetre sheet with the signature "Michelangelo Bona Roti" as a work by the Renaissance master.
Owner unaware of his treasure
After months of research, including at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, she was convinced that it was a study for the Libyan Sibyl.
Michelangelo (1475-1564) immortalised her in 1511/1512 as one of five seers and countless other figures in the ceiling painting of the Sistina.
The drawing is currently on display at the auction house's London headquarters and from 27 November at the Rockefeller Center in New York before it goes under the hammer in February.
Of the 600 or so surviving drawings by Michelangelo, around 50 are said to relate to the Sistine Chapel.
The current owner of the sketch, a US citizen who wishes to remain anonymous, knew nothing about its author.