The most high-priced painting ever sold at an art public sale is lacking. And it appears no one can account for it.
A portray of Jesus Christ which artwork historians believe become completed with the aid of Leonardo da Vinci changed into purchased with the aid of an nameless purchaser for the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia in 2017 for $450 million. The painting referred to as “Salvator Mundi” became to be exhibited on the Louvre Abu Dhabi.
One month after the auction, The New York Times reviews the museum’s tradition branch announced the painting might be displayed as part of its collection. Last September, the painting became scheduled to be unveiled, however the event turned into canceled and not using a explanation.
The Louvre Abu Dhabi’s culture branch and staff have refused to reply any questions on the portray. Also, an authentic on the Louvre in Paris, which licenses its call to the Abu Dhabi museum, instructed the Times their staff has been unable to find the “Salvator Mundi.”
In addition, both museums refused to offer a comment to the Times.
Believed to have been painted round 1500, the portray’s provenance even consists of it being listed within the inventory of King Charles I of England’s collection after he was finished in 1649, the newspaper suggested. The portray then disappears from the historical file sometime inside the overdue 1700s.
However, the heavily painted-over paintings later grew to become up within the series of a nineteenth-century British industrialist. Art historians at the time surmised it become the paintings of one of da Vinci’s students.
Then in 2005, two sellers saw it at an public sale in New Orleans and brought it to Dianne Modestini, a professor at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts and a conservator, the Times stated.
Modestini restored the details, stripping away the overpainting, and repaired harm to the timber panel.
In 2013, the painting was offered by using Russian billionaire, Dmitry E. Rybolovlev for $127.Five million who auctioned it off at Christy’s in New York 4 years later. At the time of the Saudi prince’s purchase, a few artwork historians were skeptical the portray was one of da Vinci’s works.
Rumors abound in the art global as to the exact whereabouts of the portray. One story presently circulating is it became taken to Europe after payment become made.
Modestini said that she had heard from a recuperation expert that he had been requested by using an coverage company to have a look at the painting in Zurich closing fall before further shipping.
But the examination changed into canceled the Times mentioned and the professional declined to comment.