Tiny foot sketch by famous artist Michelangelo sold for millions

A small chalk drawing of a foot, made more than 500 years ago by the famous Italian artist Michelangelo, has sold for $27.2 million (£20 million.)

The sketch is just 13cm long and experts think it was drawn by the artist between 1511 and 1512, whilst he was practising for one of his paintings.

It's one of only about ten Michelangelo drawings that are still privately owned, rather than owned by art galleries or museums.

The original owner, who lives in the US, chose to keep his identity a secret, but said the drawing had been passed down through his family in Europe since the 1700s.

The foot sketch was sold by an auction house called Christie's.

Experts there think Michelangelo drew the foot to practise details for a female figure, called the Libyan Sibyl, which he later painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

The Sistine Chapel is a very famous chapel in the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City.

To check if the drawing was real, experts used a special technique called 'infrared reflectography', which is a bit like an X-ray for a work of art.

This revealed hidden drawings on the back that looked like Michelangelo's work, too.

They also compared the sketch with a real Michelangelo drawing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, before deciding it was the real deal.

Andrew Fletcher, who is in charge of Christie's Old Masters Department, said the discovery was "one of the most memorable moments" of his career.