November 15, 2017, when Saviour of the World created an auction record

Art of the matter

The sale of Leonardo da Vinci's “Salvator Mundi” at Christie's in New York for $400 million, plus $50.3 million in commissions, on November 15, 2017, making it the most expensive painting ever sold, has taken the art world by storm.

Bidding representatives react after Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi” sold for $400 million at Christie’s, on November 15, 2017, in New York.

Experts have had lingering questions about the authenticity as also the condition of the painting, “Saviour of the World”. An editorial in The New York Times said, “...The work has been marred by repeated repaintings...” Quoting The New York Times critic Jason Farago, it said the painting was “a proﬁcient but not especially distinguished religious picture from turn-of-the-16th-century Lombardy, put through a wringer of restorations.”

Salvator Mundi, an ethereal portrait of Jesus Christ which dates to about 1500, the last privately owned Leonardo da Vinci painting, is on display for the media at Christie’s in New York October 10, 2017.

The masterwork painting, one of around 16 verified da Vinci originals in existence, was put on sale by the trust of Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev. Christie’s carried out a high-decibel marketing of the painting. In the picture, Christie’s auctioneer Jussi Pylkannen taps the gavel as he ends bidding at $400 million, and agents celebrate the sale.

November 15, 2017, when Saviour of the World created an auction record

Art of the matter

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