Documentary Reveals True Origin of $450m da Vinci's 'Salvator Mundi' Painting

Documentary Reveals True Origin of $450m da Vinci's 'Salvator Mundi' Painting

The exact origin of the ‘Salvator Mundi’ painting, widely credited to Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci, has been a controversial topic for years. Now, a French documentary, set to premiere on French TV next week, is seeking to unravel the mystery that has bedeviled many historical art scholars and enthusiasts.

According to the filmmakers and researchers, only a part of the piece, nicknamed the male Mona Lisa, was done by da Vinci himself.

What is the ‘Salvator Mundi’ and how has it made art history?

‘Salvator Mundi’ (Latin for 'Savior of the World') is a painting that depicts Jesus in a Renaissance dress, making the sign of the cross with his right hand, while holding a transparent, non-refracting crystal orb in his left. It symbolizes Jesus’ role as savior of the world and represents the 'celestial sphere' of the heavens. There are about twenty known variations of this painting, believed to be done by students and followers of Da Vinci.

According to art historians, the painting may have been done for Louis XII of France and his consort, Anne of Brittany, and was probably commissioned around 1500, shortly after Louis conquered the Duchy of Milan and took control of Genoa in the Second Italian War. It disappeared from 1763 until 1900 when it was acquired from Sir Charles Robinson. It was at the time thought to be a work by Leonardo's follower, Bernardino Luini, and was purchased for the Doughty House in Richmond, London by Sir Francis Cook. By this time Christ's face and hair had been extensively repainted. A photograph taken in 1912 records the work's altered appearance.

The original painting which had been re-attributed in 2011 to the master painter Leonardo Da Vinci after it was rediscovered, restored, and included in a major Leonardo exhibition at the National Gallery, London, made history on 15 November 2017 when it was sold at auction for $450.3 million by Christie's in New York. This made it the most expensive painting ever sold at a public auction.

It soon became a general belief that the secret buyer, Prince Badr who allegedly made the purchase on behalf of Abu Dhabi's Department of Culture and Tourism, was actually a proxy for his close ally and Saudi Arabia crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, although Riyadh denies this conjecture.

But a cloud of illegitimacy hung over this priced piece of historical artwork. Specialists dispute the identity of the painting with some positing that Da Vinci only contributed certain elements and was not the portrait’s true painter. In fact, until 2011, the painting was attributed to Da Vinci's pupil Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, who was listed as the creator of the artwork when it was sold at auction in 1958 for £45. 

The ‘Savior for sale’, the French-Saudi impasse, and the controversial World’s most expensive painting

The issue of the painting’s contested origin soon surfaced after its record-making 2017 auction success when the painting failed to appear as planned at the Louvre Abu Dhabi museum in 2018, and then at a blockbuster da Vinci show by the Louvre in Paris the following year.

With the upcoming documentary, aptly titled “The Savior for Sale”, French filmmaker Antoine Vitkine, sets out to reveal what was going on behind the scenes of the failed Louvre outing of the painting.

In the film, senior officials from President Emmanuel Macron's government, appearing under pseudonyms, confirm that the Louvre's scientific analysis of the painting concluded that while it was produced in da Vinci's workshop, the da Vinci himself only "contributed" to the painting. This revelation apparently did not go down well with the Saudis.

"Things turned incomprehensible," said one of the French officials in the film. "The request by MBS (Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman) was very clear: show the Salvator Mundi next to the Mona Lisa and present it as 100% a da Vinci."

The documentary alleges that some members of the French government, including Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, lobbied on behalf of MBS's request, as they were concerned about the impact on France's wide-ranging strategic and economic relationship with Saudi Arabia.

But Macron ultimately decided to reject MBS's request, leaving it to the Louvre to negotiate with the Saudis on how the painting should be presented, according to their prerogative. According to the documentary, no deal was concluded and the Louvre has refused to comment on the case.

Meanwhile, according to an official, The Saudis offered various deals, but his recommendation to the Elysee was that this would amount to "laundering a $450 million artwork."

"The Saudis are afraid of this debate on the authenticity," says Chris Dercon, who heads one of France's top museum bodies and advises the Saudi government on art, in the documentary. "They are afraid that people will say, both at home and abroad, 'You spent all this money for something that is not a da Vinci.'"

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