Leonardo Da Vinci's "The Martyred Saint Sebastian" Finally Discovered And Valued At $16 Million! Read Here
A rare drawing worth $16 million by Leonardo da Vinci was found by a French auction house. The discovery of the drawing called, "The Martyred Saint Sebastian", was announced on Monday by the Paris-based auction house Tajan.
According to Tajan, the drawing is said to be the first work of Da Vinci to be found in over 15 years which was valued at a whopping $15.8 million. The drawing was authenticated by a curator named, Carmen C. Bambach, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The drawing measures at 19x13 centimeters.
New York Times reported that the sketch was one of 14 unframed drawings that were brought into the auction house by a retired doctor in March. Tajan's director of old master pictures, Thaddee Prate, perceived that a drawing that depicts St. Sebastian tied to a tree. The owner of the drawing does not yet want his identity to be revealed for his own safety, said Tajan.
Thadee Prate asked for a second opinion from an independent dealer and adviser in old master drawings, Patrick de Bayser, to have a look at the drawing. Right afterward, Bayser confirmed that the drawing was done by a left-handed artist, like Da Vinci. At the back of the sheet, he noticed two small scientific drawings pertaining to studies of candlelight and several hand notes written in cursive style founded during the Italian Renaissance.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced in a statement, "This is an exciting new discovery of an authentic double-sided sheet by the master (1452-1519), representing on the recto the full figure of the martyred Saint Sebastian tied to a tree in a landscape, and on the verso, notes and diagrams about light and shadow, which relate to Leonardo's study of optics." The recent discovery of the drawing according to the Bambach, is the most highly developed of the three known studies and estimated that it was drawn between 1482 and 1485, while Da Vinci resided in Milan.
