Christie's London announced on May 21, 2007 that Lorenzo de' Medici (1518), a portrait of sound provenance by the famous Italian Renaissance master Raffaello Sanzio, known as Raphael ( 1483-1520), will be available to purchase as part of its Important Old Master and British Pictures auction on Thursday 5 July 2007. Raphael's painting will be on display in the prestigious auction house's sales rooms from King Street, from June 30. artist always private. Owned by Ira Spanierman since 1968, questions of attribution of the work to Raphael were addressed by Sir Charles Robinson (1824-1913) and firmly resolved in 1971 by the prolific Konrad Oberhuber, former director of the Albertina Museum in Vienna. The masterpiece is expected to fetch up to £15 million at auction. Lorenzo de Medici was last publicly exhibited more than 40 years ago. Interest in the works of Raphael and Medicean portraits has intensified following three recent special exhibitions: Splendor of Florence at Federal Hall National Memorial on Wall Street (October 1-November 12, 2004). ); Raphael: From Urbino to Rome (October 24, 2004-January 16, 2005) at the National Gallery, London and Raphael at the Met: The Colonna Altarpiece at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (June 20-September 3, 2006).Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici (Lorenzo II) (1492-1519) was the grandson of Lorenzo de' Medici, the Magnificent (1449-1492), the ingenious statesman of the Florentine Republic, supporter of the Neoplatonic Academy and patron of the arts. He was also the nephew of Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici (1475-1521), eventually elected Pope Leo X (r. 1513-21). Lawrence II's uncle is best remembered for granting Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg (1490-1545) permission to sell indulgences (remissions from the temporal punishment of purgatory for sins already absolved by the Church) in the lands under its jurisdiction..