Free Republic

Saudi Arabia sparked one of the art world’s biggest mysteries when it paid $450 million for Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi” painting three years ago. Since then, the kingdom has kept the world’s priciest painting out of sight—fueling mounting questions about its fate. Now, some answers are starting to emerge. The kingdom’s new Ministry of Culture plans to keep the masterpiece in storage until it can build a new museum to unveil it, according to people familiar with the matter. The plans—kept secret until now—are part of a multibillion-dollar push by the Saudis to become a major international art destination,...

They say the best things in life are free, but try telling that to the art-lover who owns a Leonardo da Vinci or Vincent van Gogh masterpiece. World-renowned auction house Christie's has revealed its top 10 most expensive lots sold in 2017 including da Vinci's 500-year-old mystical masterpiece, Salvator Mundi, which was bought for an eye-watering $450,312,500(£342,182,751). An Andy Warhol painting, two pieces of work by Cy Twombly, Max Beckmann’s Hölle der Vögel and Fernand Léger’s Contraste de Formes all made it into the top 10 list after buyers battled it out in the auction room.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is the actual buyer of a painting by Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci that sold for a record-breaking $450 million at auction last month, the Wall Street Journal has reported. The young crown prince, known by his initials MBS, used an intermediary to buy the much-sought-after painting of Christ, 'Salvator Mundi', the newspaper reported, citing US intelligence and other unnamed sources. The son of Saudi King Salman is seen to be progressively consolidating his power, and is the architect of a wide-ranging plan dubbed Vision 2030 to bring social and economic change to his...

After the hammer went down on the staggering Leonardo da Vinci sale Wednesday night — $450.3 million dollars for a painting of disputed quality — it was difficult for the auctioneer and potential bidders to turn their attention to the other lots. “The air sucked out of the room after that,” said Paul Gray, a partner at Richard Gray Gallery. “It was kind of hard to move on.” And even into the next day, the art world continued to grapple with what seemed like a new landscape, with auction traditions upended and the ceiling suddenly limitless. Would this sale push...

You can’t put a price on beauty; you can put a price on a name. When the National Gallery in London exhibited a painting of Christ in 2011 as a heretofore lost work by Leonardo da Vinci, the surprise in art historical circles was exceeded only by the salivating of dealers and auctioneers. The painting, “Salvator Mundi,” is the only Leonardo in private hands, and was brought to market by the family trust of Dmitry E. Rybolovlev, the Russian billionaire entangled in an epic multinational lawsuit with his former dealer, Yves Bouvier. On Wednesday night, at Christie’s postwar and contemporary...

A painting by Italian Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci that depicts Jesus Christ holding an orb sold for a world record $450.3 million at Christie’s auction house in New York Wednesday night. The painting, called "Salvator Mundi," Italian for "Savior of the World," is one of fewer than 20 paintings by Leonardo known to exist and the only one in private hands. The buyer was not immediately identified. The highest price ever paid for a work of art at auction had been $179.4 million, for Picasso's "Women of Algiers (Version O)" in May 2015....

It’s the passion of the painting. Leonardo da Vinci’s haunting last work, depicting Jesus Christ, is coming to New York this month and is expected to fetch an estimated $100 million at a November Christie’s auction, a spokesperson said. “Salvator Mundi is a painting of the most iconic figure in the world by the most important artist of all time,” Loic Gouzer, chairman of post-war and contemporary art for Christie’s New York, said in a statement released by the auction house.

It watched as its then-owner, King Charles I, was beheaded in 1649. It was hanging in Buckingham Palace back when it was still called Buckingham House in 1703. It survived the Nazis’ 1940 London Blitz when its keepers abandoned it in their basement. By 1958, its origins had become so lost in time that it was sold for a paltry $90 to a collector from Louisiana. The long, strange journey of Leonardo da Vinci’s masterwork “Salvator Mundi” takes its next turn Wednesday at Christie’s, when it goes under the hammer for a hoped-for $100 million. It is the first Leonardo...