A rare portrait of Botticelli sold for $ 92.2 million (around 76 million euros) at auction at Sotheby's.

New York on ThursdayJanuary 28, a world record for any work by the Italian artist.

A rare portrait of Botticelli sold for $ 92.2 million (around 76 million euros) at auction at Sotheby's in New York on Thursday.

The Renaissance artist's "Young man holding a cockade" is one of several dozen of his portraits known today.

The large-scale paintings "Birth of Venus" and "Primavera" by Sandro Botticelli are exhibited in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Sotheby's said it was one of the most significant portraits from any period to ever be auctioned and got the second highest price for any old master painting.

At $ 450 million, "Salvator Mundi", attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, set the world record in 2017 for an ancient master or any work of art.

The identity of the buyer has not been revealed.

The 15th-century piece, also known as "Young Man Holding a Medallion," had a presale estimate of $ 80 million, and Sotheby's had thought it could fetch over $ 100 million.

"It is not only an exceptional painting, it is also the epitome of beauty and a time when so much of our Western civilization began.

Today's result is a fitting tribute, to both to the painting itself and to all that it represents, ”said Christopher Apostle, director of Old Masters paintings at the auction house.

Sotheby's said the portrait was acquired for $ 1.3 million by its unidentified previous owner at an auction in 1982 in the UK.

It shows an unknown young man, probably a member of Florence's elite at the end of the 15th century, wearing a simple tunic with a blue sky behind him and holding a cockade or medallion.

The previous record for a Botticelli was set in 2013 when his "Madonna and Child with Young Saint John the Baptist" sold for $ 10.4 million.

Independence

The Renaissance artist's "Young man holding a cockade" is one of several dozen of his portraits known today.

The large-scale paintings "Birth of Venus" and "Primavera" by Sandro Botticelli are exhibited in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Sotheby's said it was one of the most significant portraits from any period to ever be auctioned and got the second highest price for any old master painting.

At $ 450 million, "Salvator Mundi", attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, set the world record in 2017 for an ancient master or any work of art.