World’s most expensive painting all at sea

“Salvator Mundi”, an oil painting controversially attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, which sold for a staggering $450m in 2017 and subsequently disappeared from view, is allegedly decorating a billionaire’s superyacht


TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS

1500: Leonardo da Vinci believed to paint Salvator Mundi (Latin for Saviour of World), most likely for King
Louis XII of France

1625: French princess Henrietta Maria marries King Charles I of England, taking picture with her

1650-late 1700s: Painting mostly in ownership of English monarchy

1900: Missing for 200 years, painting resurfaces in UK, heavily overpainted – now believed to be by Leonardo follower, Bernardino Luini

1958: Consigned to auction of Old Master paintings and attributed to Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, it sells for £45 and disappears for 50 years

2005: Painting reappears in New Orleans and is bought by consortium of art dealers for less than $10,000. Resembles gloomy, damaged copy of original masterpiece

2006-12: Dianne D. Modestini extensively restores artwork 

Experts authenticate painting to be work by Leonardo, although doubts remain

Nov 2017: Christie’s New York sells painting to Saudi Arabian prince Badr bin Abdullah for record sum
$450,312,500


Damage shows walnut panel broken into seven pieces


Intended for display at Louvre Abu Dhabi, it was last seen on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s superyacht in Sharm el-Sheikh

Sharm el-Sheikh, EGYPT
SAUDI ARABIA


Superyacht
“Serene”


Sources: Bloomberg, Artnet, Christie’s 
Pictures: Creative Commons, Getty Images 
© GRAPHIC NEWS