A Rembrandt drawing titled 'Young Lion Resting' (ca. 1638–43) sold for $18 million at Sotheby's New York on February 4, setting a new auction record for a work on paper by the artist. The sale price fell within the pre-sale estimate of $15–20 million and far surpassed the previous record of $3.7 million for a Rembrandt drawing.
The sale highlights the deepening engagement of major auction houses with new markets, particularly Saudi Arabia, where the drawing was exhibited ahead of the sale. The work was sold from the renowned Leiden Collection of Thomas S. Kaplan and Daphne Recanati Kaplan, with proceeds benefiting Panthera, a wild cat conservation charity. This fusion of high-value art market activity, strategic global exhibition tours, and philanthropic aims underscores the evolving dynamics of art collecting and its potential to drive significant capital toward non-art causes.