Wrapped DVD case (Detail from Raphael’s The School of Athens, Fornarina/Margarita Luni)

Christie’s is delighted to present CHRISTO’S BOX. BETWEEN ART AND MERCY. A GIFT FOR BANGUI. Launched in June 2016, at the GAMeC (Modern and Contemporary Art Gallery) in Bergamo, it is a charitable initiative promoted by the Secretariat for Communication of the State of Vatican City and the Vatican Museum. Inspired by the packaging of a DVD series produced by the Vatican Television Centre and Officina Della Comunicazione – which presents a virtual tour of the Vatican Rooms – the work will be sold by Christie’s to support the Vatican’s fundraising efforts for the Children’s Hospital of Bangui in Africa, which Pope Francis visited in November 2015. It depicts a character from The School of Athens by Raphael, one of the most famous frescoes in the Vatican Rooms. Christo captures the eternal, motionless gaze of the young figure portrayed next to Aristotle, believed to be based on the likeness of the cousin of Pope Julius II. The artist produced 300 box-set multiples, each of which has been numbered and signed. 200 of these will be auctioned by Christie’s, spread across sales in London, Turin, Milan and Rome.