Eugenio Donadoni
International Specialist, Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts | Books & Manuscripts
Eugenio Donadoni joined Christie’s in 2010, where he leads the manuscripts team with responsibility for the appraisal, researching, cataloguing and marketing of medieval and Renaissance and earlier western manuscripts worldwide.
Born in Florence and raised in Naples, he read for undergraduate, Master’s and doctoral degrees at Oxford University. Career highlights include the sale of the Rothschild Prayerbook ($13.6m, the world record at auction for an illuminated manuscript, January 2014); the Carolingian ‘Gospels of Queen Theutberga’ (£1.99m, July 2015); the lavishly illuminated Almanac Hours (£1.63m, July 2020); a sumptuous Book of Hours by the Master of the Paris Bartholomeus Anglicus ($3.6m, April 2021); and the Crosby-Schøyen Codex, one of the oldest books in existence (£3.06m, June 2024).
Notable collection sales have included the Arcana Collection of Exceptional Illuminated Manuscripts (London, 2010-11); the stunning group of manuscripts in Yates, Thompson and Bright: a Family of Bibliophiles (London, 16 July 2014), the collection of Maurice Burrus (London, 25 May 2016); the extraordinary illuminated manuscripts and printed books from the collection of Elaine and Alexandre Rosenberg (New York, 23 April 2021); and the world heritage manuscripts offered in Manuscript Masterpieces from the Schøyen Collection (London, 11 June 2024).
Over the past 15 years Eugenio has negotiated a significant number of multi-million pound private sales of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts to clients in Europe, the UK and the Americas: most significantly the Clumber Park Chartier (now in the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library) and the Breviary of Saint-Louis de Poissy (now in the Bibliothèque nationale de France).
Eugenio is one of Christie’s international auctioneers and takes sales in London, Paris and New York. He is a Fellow and Visiting Committee member of the Morgan Library and a member of the Bibliographical Society. He plays in a much-loved – if terrible – rock band, will offer unsolicited advice on anything food-related and is trilingual in English, Italian and French. He also reads Latin and Ancient Greek.
Born in Florence and raised in Naples, he read for undergraduate, Master’s and doctoral degrees at Oxford University. Career highlights include the sale of the Rothschild Prayerbook ($13.6m, the world record at auction for an illuminated manuscript, January 2014); the Carolingian ‘Gospels of Queen Theutberga’ (£1.99m, July 2015); the lavishly illuminated Almanac Hours (£1.63m, July 2020); a sumptuous Book of Hours by the Master of the Paris Bartholomeus Anglicus ($3.6m, April 2021); and the Crosby-Schøyen Codex, one of the oldest books in existence (£3.06m, June 2024).
Notable collection sales have included the Arcana Collection of Exceptional Illuminated Manuscripts (London, 2010-11); the stunning group of manuscripts in Yates, Thompson and Bright: a Family of Bibliophiles (London, 16 July 2014), the collection of Maurice Burrus (London, 25 May 2016); the extraordinary illuminated manuscripts and printed books from the collection of Elaine and Alexandre Rosenberg (New York, 23 April 2021); and the world heritage manuscripts offered in Manuscript Masterpieces from the Schøyen Collection (London, 11 June 2024).
Over the past 15 years Eugenio has negotiated a significant number of multi-million pound private sales of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts to clients in Europe, the UK and the Americas: most significantly the Clumber Park Chartier (now in the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library) and the Breviary of Saint-Louis de Poissy (now in the Bibliothèque nationale de France).
Eugenio is one of Christie’s international auctioneers and takes sales in London, Paris and New York. He is a Fellow and Visiting Committee member of the Morgan Library and a member of the Bibliographical Society. He plays in a much-loved – if terrible – rock band, will offer unsolicited advice on anything food-related and is trilingual in English, Italian and French. He also reads Latin and Ancient Greek.
