Over the course of 30 years, Barbara Piasecka Johnson (1937-2013) – art connoisseur, philanthropist and wife of the late John Seward Johnson, co-founder of the Johnson and Johnson medical and pharmaceutical firm - assembled one of the most remarkable collections of Old Master paintings, drawings and works of art in recent times. On 9 July 2014, Sotheby’s London Evening sale of Old Master and British Paintings will present a group of nine Renaissance and Baroque masterworks from her Estate, led by three remarkably rare Florentine drawings, including the only Botticelli drawing to appear on the market in a century (est. £1-1.5 million).

The proceeds of the sale, expected to fetch over £8.6 million, are to benefit the Barbara Piasecka Johnson Foundation, the primary focus of which is helping children with autism.