A historic masterpiece depicting Jesus Christ has shattered all previous auction records, becoming the most expensive painting ever sold. Leonardo da Vinci's "Salvator Mundi" (Italian for "Savior of the World") was purchased by Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for a staggering $450 million in November 2017 at Christie's auction house in New York's Rockefeller Center.
The sale marked a landmark moment in the art world, with an intense bidding war lasting nearly 20 minutes at Christie's headquarters. Created around 1500, the Renaissance masterpiece shows Jesus Christ dressed in blue High Renaissance clothing, with his right hand raised in blessing and holding a crystal orb in his left hand. The crystal sphere is said to represent the "celestial sphere" of the heavens.
The painting's journey to record-breaking status is particularly remarkable. In 2005, the same artwork sold for just $10,000 when it was attributed to a follower of Leonardo rather than the master himself. However, after extensive restoration and re-examination, art experts conclusively re-attributed the work to Leonardo da Vinci, dramatically increasing its value and significance.
Professor Martin Kemp, a Leonardo expert, explained key evidence that led to the correct attribution, particularly focusing on the distinctive way the artist painted hair. "Leonardo was a great studier of why things looked like they did, and he had a theory about the physics of hair, he compared it with water," Kemp wrote on The British Academy website. "Leonardo knows the physics of hair. If we look at some of the copies (not Leonardo's works), they don't really show an understanding of how hair curls, how it works."
The watery-like appearance of Jesus's hair in "Salvator Mundi" was one of the crucial clues that helped authenticate the painting as a genuine Leonardo work. Kemp noted that Leonardo's scientific approach to art was unique: "Leonardo being Leonardo has to classify the spirals: a convex one, a flat one, a concave one, or muddled up ones. This is very typical of Leonardo's work. Nobody else did that, they just didn't think it was worth that kind of level of investment."
Leonardo da Vinci, the High Renaissance master known for iconic works including the "Mona Lisa" (c. 1503) and "The Last Supper" (c. 1495-98), created very few paintings that survive today, making "Salvator Mundi" exceptionally rare. The artwork is one of fewer than 20 known paintings by the Renaissance genius.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reportedly plans to display the masterpiece in a new Louvre Museum scheduled to open in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The museum will showcase art worth millions of dollars, with "Salvator Mundi" taking pride of place in the collection. Interestingly, the depiction aligns with Islamic traditions, as the painting shows Jesus blessing with his right hand, which is considered more noble and therefore honored by Muslims.
Despite the grand plans for public display, reports suggest that the world's most expensive painting has been stored in a Geneva vault for the past eight years since the record-breaking auction. The artwork's eventual public exhibition in Saudi Arabia is expected to be a major cultural milestone when the Riyadh Louvre opens its doors to visitors.
