Beginning in 2007, conservator Dianne Dwyer Modestini removed dirt and overpainting to reveal obscured details on the canvas, paving the way for institutional endorsement. The artwork subsequently passed through high-stakes private sales, including a contentious markup between art dealer Yves Bouvier and billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev that prompted a multi-year legal feud resolved in 2023. Although it fetched an unprecedented sum at Christie's New York, the portrait remains subject to scholarly skepticism. The piece has stayed out of public sight since the Louvre Abu Dhabi delayed a scheduled display in 2018.
Key points
Institutional backing from London's National Gallery in 2011 served as the primary cataly…: Institutional backing from London's National Gallery in 2011 served as the primary catalyst for the dramatic rise in the work's market valuation.
Rapid escalation in the painting's sale price ignited a major international legal conflic…: Rapid escalation in the painting's sale price ignited a major international legal conflict that was finally settled in 2023.
Persistent scholarly debate over the attribution continues even as the piece remains hidd…: Persistent scholarly debate over the attribution continues even as the piece remains hidden from public view following a postponed 2018 exhibition.
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In 2005, two art dealers bought an old painting of Jesus Christ at an auction in New Orleans for $1,175. The work was in poor condition and had been attributed to a follower of Leonardo da Vinci, rather than the Renaissance master himself. Twelve years later, the same painting sold for $450.3 million at Christie's in New York, setting a record for the most expensive painting ever sold at auction.
The painting, known as ‘Salvator Mundi,’ meaning ‘Saviour of the World,’ became one of the art market's biggest stories. Its dramatic rise in value followed years of restoration, historical research and expert examination. But its attribution to Leonardo has remained contested, and the painting has not been publicly displayed since its planned unveiling at the Louvre Abu Dhabi was postponed in 2018.
Its journey raises two questions: how did a painting once dismissed as a copy become a record-breaking work, and who actually painted it?
A painting that disappeared from history
The painting belonged to King Charles I of England and was recorded in an inventory of the royal collection…
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