It was believed to be a long-lost but authentic DaVinci and experts across the globe verified its authenticity. The portrait was likely only ‘attributed to, authorised by, or supervised by’ the Renaissance master. Now it is believed to have been painted by one of his assistants or students, with only a few – if any – brush strokes by da Vinci himself. The lowering of the painting’s status was first reported by The Art Newspaper, and it will likely cause its value to plummet.
Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan al-Saud was the official buyer in 2017, a little-known member of the Saudi royal family with no history as an art collector. It is widely accepted that he was purchasing the masterpiece on behalf of Prince Mohammed bin Salman, making him the rightful owner of the artwork. Regardless of who it is, they paid an astonishing sum – more than the £305m the crown prince paid for Newcastle United. The National Gallery in London presented the painting as a bona fide Da Vinci in 2011, but art curator and scholar Vincent Delieuvin raised suspicion with his claim that parts of the Mundi were ‘of surprisingly poor quality’. In January, Madrid’s Prado Museum relegated the work to its ‘Leonardo and the Mona Lisa’ exhibition.
Leonardo’s workshop in Florence produced copies and works during his lifetime that were authorized by him, and the showcase runs until January 23. The catalogue continues: ‘Leonardo had periods when he was unable to paint because of his perfectionism and his numerous other occupations, so his pupils did it for him’. Leonardo’s paintings are divided into two categories, ‘composed by Leonardo’ and ‘attributed works’ or ‘approved and supervised by Leonardo’. The Salvator Mundi falls into the latter category.
Christ is portrayed as the Saviour of the World in this portrait, sometimes called the Gulf Salvator Mundi and dates back to around the year 1500. Several centuries passed before it was repeatedly traded and eventually turned up at an auction in 2005 in New Orleans. Restoration revealed it could be a genuine Leonardo after just $1,175 (£876) was paid for it by dealers. After that, it was sold to a Russian oligarch in 2013 for $127m (£94.7m) before becoming the most expensive artwork ever to sell at auction in 2017 at Christie’s in New York.
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AWESOME WEALTH
Rumours have suggested that it is stashed somewhere in Saudi Arabia, but its current location remains unknown. Many believe it resides on MBS’s £400m superyacht, which is one of the world’s largest at 439ft long. The floating palace would have been worth a whopping £700m if the portrait had been there, but this is now dramatically less if not. It is unlikely to make much of a dent in MBS’s fortune, with the House of Saud’s wealth estimated to be about £1trillion – almost 16 times that of the British royal family. They inherited their wealth from the oil reserves discovered in Saudi Arabia more than 75 years ago during King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud’s reign.
The family does not publicly show off their wealth, but MBS lives a life of inconceivable luxury. Among his purchases are a £230m French chateau as well as a 620-acre estate an hour outside of Paris. On a massive 10,200 square mile site along the Red Sea, MBS plans to build a £400 billion megacity in 2020. The Neom development will be 17 times larger than London and will be powered by 100% renewable energy.
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