Da Vinci's drawing was auctioned in London. It was sold for a quarter of a billion crowns<

Da Vinci's drawing of a bear's head on a paper is only seven by seven inches in size and was one of the few similar works of a Renaissance master that has hitherto been in private hands. The work, which is over 500 years old, belonged to the British painter and collector Thomas Lawrence, and in 1860 it was sold at Christie's for 2.5 pounds. Now his price has climbed to £ 8,857 million, the highest price ever paid for da Vinci's drawing.

"I was sure that the high quality and rarity of this work would attract people from all over the world and lead to an exceptional result," said Stijn Alsteens, head of the old masters department at the auction house. According to him, this is also one of the last drawings of this artist, which appeared on the market.

The auction hall estimated that the price of the drawing could reach eight to 12 million pounds (240 to 360 million crowns), but the sale price eventually lagged slightly behind the estimate. The only bidder offered £ 7.5 million, and the final price, including the auction surcharge, was still £ 1.3 million higher. So far, the most expensive da Vinci drawing has been The Rider and the Horse, which sold for £ 8.1 million in 2001.

However, the prices of da Vinci's drawings are only a fraction of the prices of his paintings. His painting Salvator Mundi (Savior of the World) holds the absolute record of the most expensive painting in the world. In 2017, it auctioned for more than $ 450 million (CZK 9.8 billion). It was acquired by Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman.

Newton's notes on his pivotal work Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy also exceeded the estimated price set at 600,000 to 900,000 pounds (18 to 27 million crowns) in the auction. One and a half pages of manuscript in Latin, which relates to one of the most important books in modern science, was eventually acquired by the new owner for £ 1,702,500.