Others, especially potential tourists from the increasingly secular populations of Western Europe and North America, may be happy to just appreciate art as art, religious connotations aside.īut I’m not sure about the local elites or even the general population in MBS’ home area, if that’s where the picture eventually goes on display.Īfter all, it’s not a scene from the part of the Scriptures that is the common inheritance of the three Abrahamic religions. Of course, Christians can admire the beauty of Salvator Mundi while bringing an entire additional spiritual dimension to it. I grant you all those, but it still makes me wonder - especially because the artwork still hasn’t been exhibited. Sometimes rich people want to own something just to know that they own it. It could be a rare “new” Leonardo, and therefore a big draw for art lovers in general, considering there are fewer than 20 extant works solely attributed to the artist. Why would a Saudi prince, part of the royal family from a leading Muslim-majority nation, shell out so much money for a portrait of Christ as the Savior of the world? The Unasked Question About Salvator Mundiīut there’s a question it doesn’t ask - and it’s one that popped into my mind immediately upon hearing the news. Savior for Sale: Da Vinci’s Lost Masterpiece? raises all kinds of questions about the modern art world, sketchy international finance, and the art and science (and sometimes educated guesswork) of authenticating works.
It ends with a rather amusing compilation of bizarre knock-offs of Salvator Mundi, including one featuring Elon Musk in a space suit.Īpparently there’s another, very similar documentary, called The Lost Leonardo, which streams on STARZ (to which I don’t subscribe, so I haven’t seen it). The film, which can be streamed on Hulu and rented on Amazon Video, is a well-done retelling of the whole saga (be aware, there is a lot of subtitled French). Many Questions, Some Answers, in Savior for Sale It might on MBS’ yacht, cruising around the Red Sea. To date, Salvator Mundi hasn’t been seen since the sale. MBS (as he’s called in the press) supposedly bought it for Abu Dhabi’s (capital of the United Arab Emirates) Department of Culture and Tourism, to be displayed at the Louvre Abu Dhabi. In December 2017, The New York Times, committing an increasingly rare act of excellent investigative journalism, concluded that the buyer was a Saudi prince, reportedly acting on behalf of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (the guy President Biden fist-bumped with on his recent visit to Saudi Arabia). Here’s the auction house’s rather over-the-top sales video (featuring another Leonardo, diCaprio this time): In 2017, high-end auction house Christie’s sold Salvator Mundi for a record $450M to an at-that-time-unknown buyer. Did Leonardo paint it? Was it done by an assistant in his workshop? Who over-painted certain areas? Was the restoration an improvement or a desecration? What about the possibly shady Swiss art dealer who sold it to a Russian oligarch, and did the buyer get swindled? During the 2000s, the painting became the object of much speculation in the art world.