It has been revealed Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince was actually the buyer of a $450.3million Leonardo da Vinci painting- and his obscure cousin, who reportedly bought it, was actually just used as a proxy for the purchase.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in fact, bought the record breaking da Vinci painting of Christ according to U.S. government intelligence and a Saudi art-world figure familiar with the purchase, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan al-Saud, a lesser-known figure and a distant relative of the crown prince, was the named winner of the auction, held at Christie’s in November.
The Saudi art-world figure said, ‘but he is a proxy for MBS (Mohammed bin Salman).’
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is the actual buyer of the record breaking $450.3million
The iconic painting, ‘Salvator Mundi,’ is one of fewer than 20 paintings generally accepted as being from Leonardo Da Vinci’s own hand
The Crown Prince being the purchaser of the da Vinici, a painting that was also shrouded in mystery when it first reemerged into the art wold, at least settles who owns it.
The painting depicts Christ in Renaissance clothing holding a glass orb, and art buffs have pointed out that the object appears completely see-through, when in reality the light passing through it should appear distorted.
Prince Bader was reported to be the buyer of the $450.3million Leonardo Da Vinci painting, but he was only used as a proxy for the purchase
The 32-year-old Saudi leader has been working to portray himself as a reformer determined to root out corruption in the oil-rich kingdom.
While Prince Bader was thought to have shelled out the staggering amount on da Vinci’s ‘Salvator Mundi’ during an auction last month at Christie’s in New York City to make it the most expensive painting ever sold, it was in fact the crown prince.
Their was speculation when it was first reported that Prince Bader was the purchaser, raising questions over who has been both targeted and spared in the Saudi regime’s far-reaching corruption crackdown.
For several weeks, dozens of elites and even some royal family members have been imprisoned at hotels in the country amid the Saudi crown prince’s ostensible crusade against the perceived self-enrichment in the conservative kingdom.
However, Prince Bader had not been targeted in the crackdown and some have speculated that is because he is reportedly a close friend and associate of Prince Mohammed – the Crown Prince.
As Prince Bader was used as the proxy for the secretive purchaser, it appears that he is close with the Crown Prince.
Outside of buying the painting, the Crown Prince is paying for in six installments with at least five of them priced at more than $58million.
On Wednesday, the museum announced on Twitter in Arabic, English and French that the art work was heading to the Louvre in Abu Dhabi.
‘Da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi is coming to #LouvreAbuDhabi,’ the museum said on Twitter, displaying an image of the 500-year-old work.
The Louvre Abu Dhabi, the first museum to bear the Louvre name outside France, has been billed as ‘the first universal museum in the Arab world’ in a sign of the oil-rich emirate’s global ambitions.
‘Congratulations,’ Christie’s said in a tweeted reply to the Louvre Abu Dhabi.
Painted in oil on a wooden board measuring 18 by 26 inches, ‘Salvator Mundi’ shows its subject gazing dreamily at the viewer, his right hand raised in benediction, while his left clutches a crystal orb.
The French weekly le Journal du Dimanche first reported that two investment firms were behind the shocking purchase as part of a financial arrangement involving several museums.
The sale more than doubled the previous record of $179.4 million paid for Pablo Picasso’s ‘The Women of Algiers (Version O)’ in 2015, also in New York.
The Louvre Abu Dhabi opened on November 8 in the presence of French President Emmanuel Macron, who described the new museum as a ‘bridge between civilizations.’
It is the first of three museums slated to open on the emirate’s Saadiyat Island, with plans also in place for an edition of New York’s Guggenheim.
The island will also feature the Zayed National Museum, which had signed a loan deal with the British Museum — although the arrangement has come increasingly into question due to construction delays.
Featuring a vast silver-toned dome, the Louvre Abu Dhabi was designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, drawing inspiration from Arab design and evoking both an open desert and the sea.
The museum opened with some 600 pieces including items from early Mesopotamia. Under a 30-year agreement, France provides expertise, lends works of art and organizes exhibitions in return for one billion euros ($1.16 billion).
The first works on loan from the Louvre in Paris include another painting by Da Vinci — ‘La Belle Ferronniere,’ one of his portraits of women.
The painting is now heading to the recently opened Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum (above) to go on display. It is the first museum to bear the Louvre name outside France
The Louvre Abu Dhabi (above) has been billed as ‘the first universal museum in the Arab world’ in a sign of the oil-rich emirate’s global ambitions
‘Salvator Mundi,’ which means ‘Savior of the World,’ went on public display in 2011 in a dramatic unveiling at The National Gallery in London, where the work was declared to be the first newly discovered Da Vinci painting in a century.
It is one of fewer than 20 paintings generally accepted as being from the Renaissance master’s own hand, according to Christie’s.
It had sold for a mere 45 British pounds in 1958, when the painting was thought to have been a copy, and was lost until it resurfaced at a regional auction in 2005.
Its latest sale was initiated by Russian tycoon Dmitry Rybolovlev, the boss of football club AS Monaco.
He had bought the painting in 2013 for $127.5 million although he later accused a Swiss art dealer of overcharging him.
Da Vinci died in 1519 and there are fewer than 20 of his paintings in existence. Thousands flock daily to the Louvre in Paris to see his masterpiece, Mona Lisa (file above)