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Botticelli painting sells for $92 million at auction in NYC

Two bidders competed for the painting at Thursday’s livestreamed auction.

Credit: AP

Sandro Botticelli's 15th-century painting called "Young Man Holding a Roundel" is displayed at Sotheby's on Sept. 23, 2020, in New York. The painting will go on auction next year and art watchers will be seeing if it fetches more than its eye-watering $80 million estimate, despite the pandemic. Botticelli’s 15th-century portrait of a nobleman in “Young Man Holding a Roundel” is the highlight of Sotheby’s Masters Week sale series in New York in January. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

NEW YORK — A small painting by Sandro Botticelli has sold at Sotheby’s in New York for $92.2 million, an auction record for the Renaissance master.

The painting, "Young Man Holding a Roundel,” depicts a young nobleman holding a round painting of a saint.

It is one of just three portraits in private hands by the artist best known for “The Birth of Venus” and “Primavera.”

The seller was the estate of the late real estate billionaire Sheldon Solow.

Credit: AP

Sandro Botticelli's 15th-century painting called "Young Man Holding a Roundel" is displayed at Sotheby's on Sept. 23, 2020, in New York. The painting will go on auction next year and art watchers will be seeing if it fetches more than its eye-watering $80 million estimate, despite the pandemic. Botticelli’s 15th-century portrait of a nobleman in “Young Man Holding a Roundel” is the highlight of Sotheby’s Masters Week sale series in New York in January. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Two bidders competed for the painting at Thursday’s livestreamed auction.

Sotheby’s did not disclose the identity of the buyer.