Old Masters and Italian Renaissance Works Head to New York Auctions

In early February 2026, New York will host a series of major Old Master auctions at Christie's and Sotheby's. Sotheby's holds its first Old Masters session at the Breuer Building on Madison Avenue, featuring a rare Rembrandt drawing, Young Lion Resting (estimate $15-20 million), from the collection of Thomas Kaplan, with proceeds benefiting Panthera. The sale also includes a double-sided panel by Antonello da Messina (Ecce Homo and Saint Jerome in the Desert, estimate $10-15 million). Christie's opens its Old Masters week at Rockefeller Center on February 4 with a Canaletto view of Venice, Venice, the Bucintoro at the Molo on Ascension Day (estimate on request), which previously set a world record for the artist. Other highlights include a Botticelli and workshop Madonna and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist ($4-6 million), an Artemisia Gentileschi Self-Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria ($2.5-3.5 million), and a Michelangelo red chalk drawing from 1511-12 related to the Sistine Chapel ceiling, estimated at $1.5-2 million. The Michelangelo drawing, rediscovered by Christie's specialist Giada Damen, is one of only 10 in private hands and the first such study to appear at auction.