Masterpiece raises the bar

LEONARDO da Vinci’s portrait of Christ Salvator Mundi has sold for a record-smashing $590 million at Christie’s in New York – more than double the old mark for any work of art at auction.

The painting, which once sold for a mere $165, was only recently rediscovered. It was the last da Vinci left in private hands and fetched more than four times the Christie’s pre-sale estimate of about $132 million.

The price was more than twice the old record for any work of art, set by Picasso’s Les Femmes D’Alger, which sold for $179.4 million in May 2015.

Salvator Mundi (saviour of the world) was purchased by an unidentified buyer bidding via telephone after a bidding war of nearly 20 minutes at the New York auction house.