Christ painting by Leonardo da Vinci sells for record $450M
A painting of Christ by the Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci sold for a
record $450 million (380 million euros) at auction on Wednesday, obliterating
previous records for artworks sold at auction or privately.
The painting, called "Salvator Mundi," Italian for "Savior of the World," is
one of fewer than 20 paintings by Leonardo known to exist and the only one in
private hands. It was sold by Christie's auction house, which didn't immediately
identify the buyer.
The highest price ever paid for a work of art at auction had been $179.4
million (152 million euros), for Picasso's "Women of Algiers (Version O)" in May
2015, also at Christie's in New York. The highest known sale price for any
artwork had been $300 million (253 million euros), for Willem de Kooning's
"Interchange," sold privately in September 2015 by the David Geffen Foundation
to hedge fund manager Kenneth C. Griffin.
The 26-inch-tall (66-centimeter-tall) Leonardo painting dates from around
1500 and shows Christ dressed in Renaissance-style robes, his right hand raised
in blessing as his left hand holds a crystal sphere.
Its path from Leonardo's workshop to the auction block at Christie's was not
smooth. Once owned by King Charles I of England, it disappeared from view until
1900, when it resurfaced and was acquired by a British collector. At that time
it was attributed to a Leonardo disciple, rather than to the master himself.
The painting was sold again in 1958 and then acquired in 2005, badly damaged
and partly painted-over, by a consortium of art dealers who paid less than
$10,000 (8,445 euros). The art dealers restored the painting and documented its
authenticity as a work by Leonardo.
The painting was sold Wednesday by Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, who
bought it in 2013 for $127.5 million (108 million euros) in a private sale that
became the subject of a continuing lawsuit.
Christie's says most scholars agree that the painting is by Leonardo, though
some critics have questioned the attribution and some say the extensive
restoration muddies the work's authorship.
Christie's capitalized on the public's interest in Leonardo, considered one
of the greatest artists of all time, with a media campaign that labeled the
painting "The Last Da Vinci." The work was exhibited in Hong Kong, San
Francisco, London and New York before the sale.
In New York, where no museum owns a Leonardo, art lovers lined up outside
Christie's Rockefeller Center headquarters on Tuesday to view "Salvator
Mundi."
Svetla Nikolova, who is from Bulgaria but lives in New York, called the
painting "spectacular."
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience," she said. "It should be seen. It's
wonderful it's in New York. I'm so lucky to be in New York at this time."
Source: Associated Press
No comments
Your comments and Encouragement are welcome