A temporary export bar has been placed on a drawing by Raphael (1483-1520) titled Head of a Young Apostle. The Renaissance masterpiece, which is worth upwards of $47 million, is one of finest works held in a British private collection.
The drawing has been a part of the Duke of Devonshire’s collection at Chatsworth since the 1700s and was sold at Sotheby’s in December for $47.8 million, nearly three times the drawing’s low estimate. The Raphael work, which broke the auction record for a work on paper, was sold to benefit the Chatsworth’s long-term future and that of its collections. The UK’s arts minister, Ed Vaizey, hopes that an export bar will provide enough time for an interested buyer to raise the money necessary to keep the drawing in the country.
Head of a Young Apostle was created between 1519 and 1521 as a study for one of the figures in Raphael’s final painting, the Vatican’s The Transfiguration.
