ART

“Cosimo De’Medici” by Pontormo will be auctioned at Christie’s in New York on May 31, one of the most important Old Master paintings sold in the last 30 years. The Italian Renaissance painting, depicting the young Cosimo with halberd in hand, had been on loan to the New York Frick Collection for 19 years. Frick President Charles A. Ryskamp told the New York Times that he is devastated by the decision to sell, adding that “the Frick is determined to do what we can to save that painting for our collection.” Chauncey Cevereaux Stillman, a New York investor and philanthropist who owned the painting, died Jan. 24. The painting subsequently was removed by his lawyers who said it would be sold for the benefit of the Homeland Foundation, Stillman’s charitable organization. The painting is expected to sell for more than $20 million.