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Rijksmuseum in Holland has acquired all 18 Lebrooy models i 2013 for $200,000

All 18 of the Michelangelo Models from the Leebrooy Cololection in Canada are now on public display at the Rijksmusuem. The Rijksmuseum is the national museum in Amsterdam, Holland. The Rijksmuseum museum is home to Rembrandt's The Night Watch and Vermeer's The Milkmaid.

The first 9 models were purchased by the museum in 2013 for less than $200,000,

The second set of models were acquired by the Museunm on October 14 2016 and will be on public viewing soon.

Their previous owner the Vancouver Museum attempted to sell them at a Sotheby's auction in January 2013 for $17 million. The modelels didn't sell as Sotheby's claimed that the models were not created by Michelangelo. Sosethby claimed the models were created by Dutchm Johan Gregor van der Schardt in the 1500's who spent 2 years in Florence making the models from the sculptures. The models were than sold to the Rijksmuseum which collects Schardt's works.

Read more about how the Vancouver here

The models Schardt supposably made from the finished sculpture are radically differnt from the sculpture. Like where there is a arm/hand on the Day model the sculpture does not have a arm. Also the face is not finished on the Day model. If your making a copy you make a exact copy that's what a copy is. Also, the skill level in the models are way above Schardt abilities. See his other clay models he made.

This is great! For most of the life of the collection the models have been locked up in safety deposit boxes unseen by the public. The last time the Lebrooy Collection was publicly Exhibited exhibited was in 1980? tour in South Africa.

Actually its very good that the models are attributed to another sculptor. this way the model price drops dramitically and the models can be purchased affordably by a public museum and displayed publicly. Thank you Sotheby's,

After Soethby's attributed the models to another sculptor Lebrooy's book droped on amazon from $50 to .01 cent. What a deal!

If the models where to have sold for millions they would have been scattered all over the planet.There are a lot of super rich folks who would have bidded up the pices to astronmical levels.