Leonardo painting smashes art records
A painting of Christ by the Renaissance master Leonardo Da Vinci sold for a record US$450 million ($656m ) at auction, smashing previous records for artworks sold.
The painting, Salvator Mundi, Latin for “Saviour 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 identify the buyer.
The highest price paid for a work of art at auction had been US$179m, for Pablo Picasso’s painting Women of Algiers (Version O) in 2015. The highest known sale price for any artwork had been US$300m for Willem de Kooning’s painting Interchange, sold privately in 2015.
Yesterday the bidding opened at US$75 million and ran for 19 minutes. The hammer came down on the final bid, US$400 million. The US$450m includes the buyer’s premium.
The 66cm-tall Leonardo painting dates from around 1500. Once owned by King Charles I, it disappeared from view until 1900, when it resurfaced and was acquired by a British collector. The painting was sold again in 1958 and then was acquired in 2005, badly damaged, by a consortium of art dealers who paid less than US$10,000. They restored it and documented its authenticity as a work by Leonardo. The painting was sold yesterday by Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, who bought it in 2013 for US$127.5m.