Year: 1499–1510
Movement: High Renaissance
Location: Louvre, Abu Dhabi
In 2017, Salvator Mundi was sold by Christie’s in New York for $450.3 million, the most expensive painting ever sold at a public auction. Despite the fact that this painting sold for such a high price, there is quite a bit of controversy around its origin.
Purchased in 2005 by two art dealers in New Orleans, no one recognized the work as a da Vinci. Worms had infected the wood support; at one point, it had been inadequately restored and overpainted. The overpainting was stripped away, missing sections were restored, and the investors believed they had a da Vinci painting in their hands. After years of analysis and research, it was included as a lost original in a Leonardo da Vinci exhibit at London’s National Gallery in 2011—although some specialists still dispute that it is a da Vinci.
The Jesus painting depicts Jesus Christ in Renaissance garb, holding His fingers in a benediction. In his other hand, He holds a crystal orb representing heaven’s celestial sphere, signifying that He is the Salvator Mundi (Savior of the World).
