"Salvator Mundi", a portrait of Christ painted by Leonardo da Vinci somewhere between 1506-1513 and long considered to be lost, recently sold at Christie's New York for the record final price of 450.3 million dollars, becoming the most expensive painting ever to be sold. It is an astonishing figure, as not only the estimates ranged around 100 million dollars, but no expert had predicted such an impressive price. One of the most interesting of da Vinci's works still in existence (there are fewer than 20 paintings, most of these in museums) "Salvator Mundi" was the highlight of the auction and it attracted the attention of several hundred art dealers and collectors, and most of these preffered to bid by phone.
According to the official statement, the new owner of Salvator Mundi is an European collectors (who naturally preffered to remain anonymous) and who bid by phone until the final huge figure was reached. Yet so far it is difficult and risky to say if this new world record marks a change in the dynamics of the global art market or it is simply an one of a kind event.
The representation of Christ is one of Leonardo da Vinci's works that might not be as famous as his frescoes, for example, yet it's story is fascinating. It was made at a time when da Vinci was under the patronage of French king Louis II, and over a century later was part of the royal collection of King Charles I of England, then it was purchased, in 1900, by respected collector Francis Cook. It was long considered to be a lost da Vinci, and several experts considered it to be a fake one or a copy, as several not very succesfull restorations had badly marked and to a degree damaged the portrait. It would be bought in 2005 by a Russian collector for the then impressive sum of 127.5 million dollars, after most of the experts of the art of da Vinci agreed that it was really the work of the master. Yet who could have seen it then that someday it would become the most expensive painting ever sold?
