Posted on 08/20/2024 3:52:36 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Salvator Mundi, a $450 million painting attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, has not been seen publicly since it sold at Christie’s in 2017, the year it became the most expensive artwork ever auction. And the reason for that, according to a new BBC report, is that it may be held in storage in Geneva.
The good news, per the BBC, is that its owner, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, may eventually make it publicly viewable. According to that report, the crown prince, often labeled MBS for short, plans to display it in a future museum in Riyadh, where the painting will serve as a cultural anchor, similar to the Mona Lisa at the Louvre.
The piece is based in large part on information the BBC was given by Saad al-Jabr, a senior security official with the Saudi government with connections at the highest level of Western intelligence organizations, and interviews with “both Saudi friends and opponents of MBS, as well as senior Western spies and diplomats.”
It details MBS’s alleged involvement in the killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, something that MBS has denied, and traces the crown prince’s rise in the Middle East. According to the report, MBS’s purchase of Salvator Mundi was part of a larger effort to modernize Saudi Arabia.
Those efforts extend beyond art and into sports, with significant investments in global sporting events including a bid to host the FIFA World Cup in 2034, as well as multimillion dollar tennis and golf tournaments, in what has been termed “sportswashing.”
For years, it has been rumored that Salvator Mundi is being held on MBS’s yacht. But Bernard Haykel, a professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, told the BBC that the painting is being stored in Geneva.
The attribution of the Salvator Mundi to Leonardo has been a subject of intense debate within the art world. Some experts argue that the painting’s style doesn’t align with Leonardo’s known works, particularly in terms of the figure’s proportions and facial features. The painting has undergone significant restoration, raising questions about the authenticity of underlying layers and details.
PING
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The British art historian Charles Hope dismissed the attribution to Leonardo entirely in a January 2020 analysis of the painting’s quality and provenance. He doubted that Leonardo would have painted a work where the eyes were not level and the drapery undistorted by a crystal orb. He added, “The picture itself is a ruin, with the face much restored to make it reminiscent of the Mona Lisa.” Hope condemned the National Gallery’s involvement in Simon’s “astute” marketing campaign.[147]
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvator_Mundi_(Leonardo)#Rejection_of_attribution
Same plastic surgeon; life imitates art.
muslims will burn it as required by their death god.
.
Doubtful. Jesus is a Prophet in Islam.
Thanks Tennessee Nana.
Even though there are some experts on Renaissance art who question the attribution of the painting to Leonardo da Vinci, Salvator Mundi was sold at auction at Christie's in New York in November 2017 for $450,312,500, a record price for an artwork.Christie's Salvator Mundi Auction | 8:13
Art Enigma | 4.73K subscribers | 10,737 views | May 16, 2020
Proper islam does not allow the depiction of any human in art.
“At the strictest level, all images of sentient beings, i.e. animals and humans, are prohibited.”
https://ajamarabi.medium.com/aniconism-why-images-are-forbidden-in-islam-c9e2a683d7b7
See: Bamyian Statue Destruction
“On 1 March 2001, the Taliban announced that all statues depicting humans in Afghanistan would be destroyed. Work to destroy the Buddhas began the next day, on 2 March, and continued for several weeks.”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhas_of_Bamiyan
What if that's what the guy actually looked like? Realism is the key.......................
‘Salvator Mundi’ I’ll see ya Tuesday..................
Coati Mundi.................
Looks highly observant, having a crystal ball...
Regardless who painted it it’s now worth >$400 million for exactly the same reason Jackson Pollocks and and Mark Rothkos that are indistinguishable from a preschooler’s fingerpaintings are worth tens of million$: Because somebody with more money than sense was willing to part with that much to get to say they owned it.
c. 1908–1910 photograph showing overpainting
You want it fast or you want it good?
We no rush. You no rush Michelangelo. You no rush Leonardo.
- You no rush a Finucci. - That’s my speech.
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It’s a cutthroat business, and if we get backed up, we gotta work week-ends.
- And we no like that. - No. We family ‘’man.’’
You treat it like it’s a normal business.
To us, it’s art.
Show him the picture.
What do you think of this?
- You guys did this?
- Who else? That’s a Finucci.
Oh, we get plenty business from this picture, huh?
Maybe someday we do you too, huh?
And when we get through with you, nobody gonna recognize you.
- You look a little pale. - You okay?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekD9oKkalTI&t=183s
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