Update on an earlier post about a long-lost Leonardo da Vinci painting:
"Saviour of the World" AKA "Salvator Mundi"
$450 MILLION !! Wowzas!!
Someone really, really wanted this beautiful piece of art.
(although my personal opinion is that Jesus looked nothing like this)
But, then there's this:
Even before Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi went to auction Wednesday night at Christie’s in New York, naysayers from around the art world were savaging its authenticity. Various advisers were muttering darkly, both online and in the auction previews. A day before the sale, New York magazine’s Jerry Saltz wrote that though he’s “no art historian or any kind of expert in old masters,” just “one look at this painting tells me it’s no Leonardo.”
Shortly after the gavel came down, the New York Times published a piece by the critic Jason Farago wherein—after also noting that he’s “not the man to affirm or reject its attribution”—he declared that the painting is “a proficient but not especially distinguished religious picture from turn-of-the-16th-century Lombardy, put through a wringer of restorations.”
Full story:
Sure hope the buyer did his due diligence before placing that final bid.
Grace & Peace & Love to you all -
Matt