Da Vinci savior of the world picture description. Almost a detective story: How a painting by Leonardo da Vinci was found

A painting by a great Renaissance master from the controversial collection of billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev has officially become the most expensive work of art in the world

The painting caused a stir already at the Christie’s press conference on October 10, 2017. Photo: GettyImages

The painting, which dates back to around 1500, was the top lot at Christie's evening auction of modern and post-war art in New York on November 15. Moreover, $450.3 million is an absolute record price for a work of art sold at public auction. The total revenue of the auction house, which also sold works by Andy Warhol, Cy Twombly, Mark Rothko and others that evening, amounted to $789 million.

The bidding began at $90 million (the day before it became known that Christie’s had a guaranteed bid from an absentee buyer who offered just under $100 million) and lasted a full 20 minutes. The main contenders were 4 telephone buyers and 1 participant in the hall. In the end, the work went to a telephone-haggling client of Alex Rotter, head of Christie’s international contemporary art department. When auctioneer Jussi Pilkkanen confirmed the sale of the painting for $400 million with the third blow of the hammer (taking into account the auction house commission, the price reached $450.3 million), the hall burst into applause.

Christie’s explained their decision to sell “Salvator Mundi” at a contemporary art auction due to the incredible significance of the work. “A painting by the most important artist of all time, depicting an iconic figure for all of humanity. The opportunity to put such a masterpiece up for auction is a huge honor and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Despite the fact that the work was painted by Leonardo approximately 500 years ago, today it influences contemporary art no less than in the 15th and 16th centuries,” said Loic Gouzer, chairman of the New York department of post-war and contemporary art at Christie’s.

Russian-born billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, whose name is now constantly heard in the news of the art world, decided to sell the last work of Leonardo da Vinci in a private collection. Firstly, he is suing his art consultant, accusing him of fraud and claiming that he overpaid twice for the collection, and secondly, he is gradually selling this collection at auctions and privately, usually receiving much less for the works than he paid. Now it’s the turn of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Savior of the World,” which went under the hammer for more than three times as much: Rybolovlev cost the painting $127.5 million, and he sold it for $450.3 million.

Both the history of this painting, which was long considered destroyed, and the scientific debate devoted to its attribution are noteworthy. There are several facts that indirectly prove that Leonardo painted Christ in the image of the Savior of the world at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries, that is, during his stay in Milan, most likely by order of the King of France, Louis XII, who at that time controlled the north of Italy. Firstly, there is a known engraving from 1650, made by Wenceslas Hollar from an original by Leonardo da Vinci (as indicated by the engraver himself). The master's sketches have also been preserved - a drawing of the head of Christ, dating back to the 1480s, from Leonardo's Codex Atlanticus (kept in the Ambrosian Library in Milan), as well as sketches of draperies (kept in the Royal Library of Windsor Castle), which compositionally coincide with those depicted on the painting put up for auction, and with those in the engraving. There are also several similar compositions by Leonardo’s students with the same plot. However, the original was considered irretrievably lost.

The painting “Salvator Mundi” by Leonardo da Vinci was sold at Christie’s post-war and contemporary art auction in New York on November 15, 2017 for $450.3 million. Photo: Christie’s

“Savior of the World,” now owned by Rybolovlev, was first documented in the collection of the British monarch Charles I: in the 17th century, it was kept in the royal palace in Greenwich. The following evidence dates back to 1763, when the painting was sold by Charles Herbert Sheffield, the illegitimate son of the Duke of Buckingham. He was selling off his father's legacy after he sold Buckingham Palace to the king. Then the painting disappears from view for a long time, and its trace is rediscovered only in 1900, when “Salvator Mundi”, as a work by a follower of Leonardo Bernardino Luini, is acquired by Sir Charles Robinson, art consultant to Sir Francis Cook. This is how the work ends up in the Cook collection in Richmond. It is believed that by this time the work had already undergone inept restoration, which was necessary after the board split in two (in particular, the face of Christ was rewritten). In 1958, Sotheby's sold the collection; a heavily rewritten image of Christ went under the hammer for £45. Such a modest price is explained by the fact that the work was attributed in the auction catalog as a late copy of a painting by the High Renaissance artist Giovanni Boltraffio.

In 2005, Salvator Mundi was purchased by a group of art dealers (including New York old master specialist Robert Simon) as a Leonardesque work for just $10,000 at a small American auction. In 2013, a consortium of dealers sold the painting to Yves Bouvier for $80 million, who almost immediately resold it to Dmitry Rybolovlev for $127.5 million.

It is assumed that it was the gallery owner and art critic Robert Simon who was the first to see Leonardo’s hand in the untitled work. On his initiative, the necessary research and consultations with experts were carried out. At the same time, the work was restored. Six years later, the sensational appearance of “Savior of the World” as a genuine painting by Leonardo da Vinci himself at an exhibition, and even in one of the most authoritative museums in the world, the National Gallery in London.

Curator of the exhibition “Leonardo da Vinci. Artist at the Milanese Court (November 2011 - February 2012) Luc Syson, then keeper of Italian painting before 1500 and head of the scientific department, warmly supported Leonardo's authorship. The work was included in the exhibition catalog edited by the same Sison as a work by Leonardo from a private collection. The catalog emphasizes that the most preserved part of the image is the fingers of Christ folded in a blessing gesture. Here the most characteristic techniques of the Italian genius are noticeable, in particular the numerous changes that the artist made during the process of work. In addition, other details point to Leonardo: the complex draperies of the tunic, the smallest air bubbles in the sphere of transparent quartz, as well as the way Christ’s curly hair is painted.

According to the online publication ARTnews, the then director of the National Gallery, Nicholas Penny, and Luke Syson, before deciding to include the work in the exhibition, invited four experts to look at the painting: the curator of the department of painting and graphics of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Carmen Bambach, the leading restorer of the fresco “The Last Supper” » in Milan by Pietro Marani, author of books on the history of the Renaissance, including a biography of Boltraffio, Maria Teresa Fiorio, as well as honorary professor at Oxford University Martin Kemp, who devoted more than 40 years to studying the legacy of Leonardo da Vinci. It seems that the work was accepted, but only Kemp spoke publicly in favor of attributing the “Savior of the World” to Leonardo in a 2011 interview with Artinfo. Answering the journalist’s questions, he notes the special feeling of “Leonardo’s presence” that you experience when looking at his works - you feel it in front of the Mona Lisa and in front of the Savior of the World. In addition, the professor spoke about the stylistic features characteristic of the master’s style.

To be fair, it should be noted that the matter was not limited to art historical analysis—scrupulous technical and technological research was also carried out. The restoration and study of Salvator Mundi was carried out by Professor Dianne Modestini, who heads the Samuel Henry Kress Program in Painting Restoration at the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University. The results of her research were presented at the Leonardo da Vinci: Latest Technological Discoveries conference in February 2012 in New York. However, Modestini is actually the only one who had access to technological research data, and without them it is not entirely correct to speak about authorship.

The Italian Leonardesque specialist Carlo Pedretti publicly spoke out against the attribution of the “Savior of the world” to Leonardo, who in 1982 curated the artist’s exhibition in his hometown of Vinci and then included in the exhibition another “Savior of the world”, from the collection of the Marquis de Gane, considering that painting to be the work of himself masters In addition, the Guardian quotes a number of points from Walter Isaac's biography of Leonardo da Vinci, published in October this year. He draws attention to the image of the ball in the hand of Christ, which is incorrect from the point of view of the laws of physics. The publication also refers to the opinion of University of Leipzig professor Frank Zellner (author of a 2009 monograph on Leonardo), who in a 2013 article called Salvator Mundi a high-quality work from the workshop of Leonardo or his follower. However, this article in the Guardian has already become the subject of a lawsuit from Christie’s International.

Salvator Mundi or Salvator Mundi, a 500-year-old work confidently attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, sold on November 15, 2017 at Christie's New York for $450,312,500 (including premium).

The image of Jesus Christ, which has already been dubbed the “male Mona Lisa,” has become not only a record holder among paintings at public auctions, but also the most expensive painting on the planet, reports Vlad Maslov, a columnist for the art website Arthive. Nowadays, only less than 20 paintings by the Renaissance genius are known, and “Savior of the World” is the last one remaining in private hands. Others belong to museums and institutes.

The work has been called “the greatest artistic discovery” of the last century. Almost a thousand collectors, antique dealers, advisors, journalists and spectators gathered for the auction in the main auction hall at Rockefeller Center. Several thousand more watched the sale live. The betting battle started at $100 million and lasted less than 20 minutes. After the price rose from $332 million in one step to $350 million, the battle was fought by only two contenders. The price of 450 million, named by the buyer over the phone, became the final price. At the moment, the identity of the new owner of the historical painting - including gender and even region of residence - is being kept secret.

The previous record at public auction was set by Pablo Picasso’s “Women of Algiers (Version O)” - $179.4 million at Christie’s sale in New York in 2015.

The highest price for a work by any old master was paid at Sotheby's in 2002 - $76.7 million for "The Massacre of the Innocents" by Peter Paul Rubens. The painting belongs to a private collector, but is exhibited at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto.

And the most expensive work by da Vinci himself was the silver needle drawing “Horse and Rider” - $11.5 million at a sale in 2001.

Although the current owner of the “Savior of the World” remains incognito for now, the name of the seller is known. This is Russian-born billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, head of the AS Monaco football club. When researching provenance, experts were able to find out that “Savior of the World” was sold in 1958 as an alleged copy for only 45 pounds sterling ($60 at current prices). After that, it disappeared for decades and reappeared at a regional US auction in 2005 without attribution. The price is believed to have been less than $10,000. In 2011, after years of research and restoration, the painting appeared at an exhibition at the National Gallery in London, which finally assigned it to Leonardo da Vinci.

In 2007 - 2010, “Savior of the World” was restored by Diana Modestini from New York. “Crudely superimposed and distorting later layers were removed, and damaged fragments were carefully and meticulously restored,” Christie’s experts write, adding that such losses are “expected in most paintings over 500 years old.”

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Salvator Mundi or Salvator Mundi, a 500-year-old work confidently attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, sold on November 15, 2017 at Christie's in New York for $450,312,500 (including premium). The image of Jesus Christ, which has already been dubbed the “male Mona Lisa,” has become not only a record holder among paintings at public auctions, but also the most expensive painting on the planet, reports Vlad Maslov, a columnist for the art website Arthive. Nowadays, only less than 20 paintings by the Renaissance genius are known, and “Savior of the World” is the last one remaining in private hands. Others belong to museums and institutes.

Leonardo da Vinci. Savior of the World (Salvator Mundi). 1500, 65.7×45.7 cm

The previous record at public auction was set by Pablo Picasso’s “Women of Algiers (Version O)” – $179.4 million at Christie’s sale in New York in 2015.

And the most expensive work by da Vinci himself was the silver needle drawing “Horse and Rider” - $11.5 million at a sale in 2001.

“Savior of the World” (Salvator Mundi) dates back to 1500: it is believed that this last work of the artist - a portrait image of the Savior holding a crystal ball with his left hand and clasping his fingers in blessing with his right - was lost for a long time.

“For many years, until 2005, the painting was considered lost,” says Christie’s press release. “The first documentary mention of it is found in the inventory of the collection of King Charles I (1600-1649). It is believed that it decorated the chambers the king's wife, Henrietta Maria of France, at the royal palace at Greenwich, and was then inherited by Charles II."

The queue for Leonardo da Vinci’s painting “Salvator Mundi” before an auction in New York, November 2017

Julie Jacobson/AP

Salvator Mundi then resurfaces in 1900, when it was acquired by Charles Robinson, but as the work of Bernardino Luini, one of Leonardo da Vinci's followers. “As a result of this, Salvator Mundi joins the collection of the Cook family, located in Richmond’s Doughty House,” continues Christie’s. “In 1958, when information about the royal provenance and authorship of Leonardo was lost, the painting went under the hammer during the auction Sotheby's for just £45, after which it is forgotten again for almost half a century."

In 2013, the painting was purchased for $127.5 million by Russian billionaire Dmitry with the help of Swiss dealer Yves Buvier.

He, in turn, bought it for $80 million at a private auction at Sotheby's auction house from three art dealers. One of them, as he claims, discovered the painting at a real estate auction eight years earlier and bought it for $10 million (then experts still it was assumed that this was the work of an artist from the school of Leonardo).

Now “Salvator Mundi” has been sold to an unknown buyer for an amount 45 times higher than what the unnamed art dealer paid in the early 2000s, while the original price of the painting, which Christie’s declared, was already $100 million.

Telephone bidding with six unknown buyers lasted 20 minutes. At the end, the audience burst into applause. Auction host Jusi Paikkanen said: “This is the zenith of my career as an auctioneer. There will never be another painting that I sell for more than this one tonight.”

Salvator Mundi actually broke the previous record that an Old Master painting had ever held. Previously, the most expensive work in this category was considered to be “The Massacre of the Innocents” by Rubens, which went under the hammer in 2002 for $76.7 million at Sotheby’s.

Crime and Punishment

Even the dubious circumstances associated with this painting and its previous owner Dmitry Rybolovlev and art dealer Yves Buvier did not affect the price. In 2013, when three dealers sold a painting through Sotheby's for $80 million, the Swiss sold it to a Russian businessman for $47.5 million more just a few days later. The sellers of the painting wrote to Sotheby's asking if they knew that the painting already had another buyer? Perhaps the auction representatives even showed Rybolovlev the work in advance?

Art dealers threatened to sue if it turned out that they were victims of fraud, and they were paid less for the painting than it was actually worth.

Representatives of the auction house took action, being the first to send this appeal to the Manhattan District Court to block the lawsuit: they said that they did not know that Buvier had already agreed with the billionaire, and he was already waiting for the “Savior of the World.”

Prince Albert II of Monaco and owner of the Monaco football club Dmitry Rybolovlev after a match in Monaco, 2014

Alexey Danichev/RIA Novosti

In 2015, the Russian owner of the Monaco football club sued the art dealer Yves Buvier, accusing him of repeatedly inflating the prices of the works he sold, including a painting by Leonardo da Vinci: for 37 famous paintings The billionaire paid a total of $2 billion for the masters. Buvier denied everything, and Rybolovlev began to get rid of the work. In March, he sold works by Magritte, Rodin, Gauguin and Picasso, which he purchased from Buvier for $174 million. He received $43.7 million for them.

After Rybolovlev sued Buvier, he was detained in Monaco, after which he was released on bail of €10 million. After this, the art dealer stated that the legal system of Monaco acted in the interests of Rybolovlev. Indeed, in September 2017, the Minister of Justice of Monaco, Philippe Narmino, resigned after the French published an article that proved that the Russian billionaire was putting pressure on the countries. Buvier himself, in order to cover legal costs, had to sell part of the business associated with storage facilities for art objects.

Author, author!

Money issues aren't the only thing that's troubling about "Savior of the World." Many in the industry generally doubt that the painting is by Leonardo. New York critic Jerry Saltz published a column in Vulture ahead of the auction on November 14, in which he questioned the authenticity of “Savior of the World.”

Immediately wondering what a Leonardo painting is doing at the Post-War and Contemporary Art auction, he quotes one of the visitors: “The whole point is that 90% of this painting was created in the last 50 years.”

“The painting resembles someone’s version of a lost original, in addition, the X-rays show cracks, destruction of the paint layer, swollen wood, an erased beard and other details corrected in order to make this copy more similar to the original,” Jerry Saltz is quoted as saying by the portal “ Artguide".

Criticism also confuses the quality of the work itself.

He claims that the great artist never painted portraits of people in such simple static poses, and even frontally; that there are 15-20 paintings by Leonardo da Vinci in the world, and not one of them is a “portrait” of the Savior; that the “golden ratio” rule used in the painting, which Christie’s marketing department refers to, is too obvious for the artist, who was at the peak of his fame in 1500.

In addition, Saltz was embarrassed by the large-scale marketing campaign launched by the auction house before the auction -

a luxurious 162-page booklet with quotes from Dostoevsky, Freud and Leonardo himself, advertising videos depicting enthusiastic spectators at the pre-auction show (among the spectators were celebrities, in particular, and).

“Be sure to watch the extended clip of three company employees promoting the painting to Hong Kong clients, describing it as “the holy grail of our business, the male Mona Lisa of the last da Vinci, our brainchild, a real blockbuster, comparable to the discovery of a new planet, more valuable than an oil refinery ", writes Jerry Saltz (quoted from the Art Guide portal).

In addition to the painting by Leonardo da Vinci, the work “The Last Supper” was sold at auction - it went under the hammer for $60 million. The appearance of the works together was supposed to justify the fact that the painting by the old master is being sold at the “Post-War and Contemporary Art” auction, which traditionally brings home the biggest income. This time it amounted to $785 million.

He has already been nicknamed the Male Mona Lisa, and he is what Christie's declares to be "the biggest discovery of the 21st century."
A New York auction house this morning unveiled its previously secret and "most exciting acquisition to date": Salvator Mundi (Salvator Mundi), a previously lost masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci that is believed to be the artist's last painting. "Salvator Mundi is the holy grail of artistic discovery," said Alex Rotter, Christie's co-chairman.

The painting is one of a few - there are only about 15 Da Vinci paintings known to exist. (To understand the importance of this event in the art world, imagine that the last time Da Vinci was discovered was 1909.)

It was hidden behind Christie's opaque sliding glass doors until the announcement was made - an invitation to a press conference "You are invited to the first ever openingan unprecedented masterpiece" (“You are invited to a first-ever unveiling of AN UNPRECEDENTED MASTERPIECE”)was written under a giant question mark in a gilded frame.The painting originally hung in the collection of King Charles I and depicted the blessed Jesus Christ, dressed in azure robes and holding an orb, one arm extended upward; The Mona Lisa was painted around the same time.

Salvator Mundi first appeared in 2005 (it sold at Sotheby's for £45 in 1958) and was presented at the National Gallery in London in 2011; the director of the National Gallery called its arrival "an event greater than the discovery of a new planet."

Immediately after today's press conference, the film will tour the world, appearing in Hong Kong, San Francisco and London, before returning to New York, where it will be exhibitedfor auction.

Of the 15 Da Vinci paintings currently known, Salvator Mundi is the only one in private hands. It will be sold at Christie's auction, and the estimated price is $100 million. “Who will buy it?” - said Guzer. “Who knows. But there would be no Louvre without the Mona Lisa, and there would probably be no Paris without the Louvre; whoever buys it will perpetuate his name, his collection, most likely, and probably his city.”