The $450 million mystery is solved
The Savior of the World artwork or the Salvator Mundi, as its Latin name popularly known, was recently sold for a whopping $450 million. It is one of the artworks that Leonardo da Vinci painted before his death in 1519. The piece of art which was once owned by Prince Charles surpassed a recent record held by Willem de Kooning’s painting, ‘Interchange,’ as the most expensive paint. The Interchange sold for $300 million.
The Salvator Mundi, painted at around 1505 shows Jesus Christ giving a benediction in a renaissance dress. Christ is portrayed holding what seems to be like a transparent crystal orb made of a rocklike object with his left hand, while his right hand appears to as raised with his fingers crossed. This artwork is thought to be one of Leonardo da Vinci’s magnum opus.
In a tweet, Christie’s auction house, in New York, announced that it had sold the magnificent piece of art to the recently opened Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum. This particular piece of art was for a long time speculated to be a copy of the original which was presumed to be lost only for art experts to discover that it was the original paint which had been covered with overpainting. It is one of the 20 paints that still exist that are said to be painted by Leonardo da Vinci.
The Salvator Mundi is the only Leonardo da Vinci artwork that is in private hands. It was purchased through a telephone call bid that lasted almost 20 minutes before finally selling to who the New York Times believe to be a Saudi prince, Bader bin Abdallah bin Mohammed bin Farhat al-Saud.
The Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum which cost one billion Euros and took a decade to build has over 600 artworks and 300 more artworks which are loaned from France. It is believed that France greatly benefits from this deal. When the museum was launched last month, the French president, Emmanuel Macron was in attendance in the company of France’s first lady, Brigitte Macron. Also in attendance were Arab Kings and leaders among others.
The Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum announced to the public through its online platforms like Twitter and Instagram the availability of the Salvator Mundi. The tweets were in French, Arabic, and English which means that quite a large number of Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum target audience and followers were reached. The Salvator Mundi, which signals Christ as the savior of the world, seems like it will remain at its new home at the Louvre Abu Dhabi for a long time.