After the Mona Lisa painting by Leonardo da Vinci
is, the second or the first and most expensive painting in the world named (Jesus Christ the Savior of the World) or Salvator Mundi, is one of the most expensive works of Da Vinci.
It might not be as exciting as a new Marvel movie to some people, but it’s a very exciting and mysterious story told by Salvator Mundi, the most expensive painting ever sold at $450 million and claimed to be a long-lost masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci.
In 2017, a painting sold for $450.3 million, making it the most expensive painting ever sold at public auction.
Salvatore Mundi’s painting is about 500 years old and it depicts the face of Jesus Christ.
The newly opened Louvre Abu Dhabi has announced on Twitter that the Savior of the World painting is on its way to the Louvre Abu Dhabi. A few days ago, some reports claimed that the buyer of this work of art is a Saudi prince.
Abu Dhabi Louvre Museum has not mentioned anything about the ownership of the painting and the buyer of this artwork. This valuable painting was sold at Christie’s auction to a phone buyer 20 minutes after the auction started.
The New York Times claimed, based on documents, that Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Farhan Al Saud was the buyer of this valuable da Vinci work.
But here’s the thing: What if Leonardo didn’t actually paint this painting?
Experts disagree, with some believing that, at most, Leonardo only touched up parts of the work and did not actually paint the entire work.
Leonardo da Vinci is believed to have destroyed the original painting, which was his work, in 1603.
This work was unknown for years.
In 2005, Robert Simon, an art dealer from New York, bought the Savior of the World painting at an online auction for US$10,000.
This painting was damaged at that time and was restored several times. Robert Simon entrusted the restoration of the panel to an expert in the restoration of ancient works from America, and after the restoration, he asked the National Gallery of London to confirm the authenticity of the Savior of the World.
The National Gallery of London invited five international experts for this task, and in the end, only one of the five people was willing to introduce the painter of the panel as Leonardo da Vinci himself.
Frank Zollner, author of Leonardo da Vinci.
Complete paintings and drawings, said:
“This painting is fundamentally controversial in two ways.
First, the heavily damaged painting had to be extensively restored, which makes it very difficult to assess its original quality.
Second, Salvatore Mundi in its current form exhibits a highly developed sfumato technique that is more in line with the style of a talented student of Leonardo active in the 1520s than with that of the master. The way this painting was presented in the market also caused concern. “
