The world’s most expensive painting ever sold at auction may never go on display at the Louvre’s new blockbuster exhibition over doubts of its whereabouts.
Salvator Mundi, a depiction of Christ as saviour of the world, was painted by Leonardo da Vinci in the early 1500s – although whether it is truly his work is a hotly contested topic.
The painting – which sold for a record breaking $450million in New York in 2017 – was due to appear in the world’s biggest collection of da Vinci in the Paris museum.
But with just under two weeks to go before the show opens, there are now doubts over whether the painting will appear after it controversially went ‘missing’.
Salvator Mundi, a depiction of Christ as saviour of the world, was painted by Leonardo da Vinci in the early 1500s – although whether it is truly his work is a hotly contested topic
It has since been claimed the canvas will make a no-show due to it’s loan not yet being approved, according to The Art Newspaper.
Meanwhile, a Louvre spokesperson told the Observer they had ‘asked for the loan’ of the painting but did not ‘have the answer yet’.
The absence of the painting from the exhibition – which celebrates the 500th anniversary of the death of da Vinci – is likely to cast doubts over its exact whereabouts.
In 2017, an Abu Dahbi Prince, Badr bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan Al Saud, bought the work of art for $450million.
The painting – which sold for a record breaking $450million in New York in 2017 – was due to appear in the world’s biggest collection of da Vinci in the Paris museum
It is unclear whether the painting was or was not done by Leonardo da Vinci, who is seen here in a portrait by Lattanzio Querena
Many at the time believed the Prince was acting on behalf of an even more senior member of the royal family: Mohammed Bin Salman, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, de facto ruler of the kingdom and arguably the most powerful man in the Middle East.
It was rumoured the painting hung on his super-yacht and was due to be unveiled at the new Louvre Abu Dhabi in September.
The museum of art and civilisation, which is said to have cost around one billion euros — including 400 million euros to carry the ‘Louvre’ name — opened last year, and the Leonardo was to have had pride of place.
But the unveiling was suddenly cancelled, with no explanation. The painting seemingly went missing.
Now it is claimed by French art experts that plans to include Salvator Mundi at the landmark exhibition at the Louvre in Paris in just two weeks may be on hold because of further doubts over its origins.
Sixty years ago it swapped hands for £45 as an undistinguished work in a job lot of Old Masters which had been collected by an English baronet.
In 2005, New York art dealers Alexander Parrish and Robert Simon bought it for $10,000 at a Louisiana estate sale.
Mr Parrish and a consortium he assembled then paid for it to be restored, with the work carried out by a leading figure in the art world, Dianne Dwyer Modestini, from New York University’s Conservation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts.
Pre-restoration photographs show great white streaks running down the picture, and Christ with large patches of paint missing from his hair, chin, nose, forehead and left eye socket.
Parrish sought its authentication as a Leonardo, which was confirmed in 2008, before selling it in 2013 to Swiss dealer Yves Bouvier for £58 million.
A Russian, Dmitry Rybolovlev, bought it for £100 million before Christie’s achieved the record price in 2017.
But questions still remain as to the painting’s provenance.
Few of the doubters think Salvator Mundi is a modern fake. The original picture was almost certainly painted in Leonardo’s lifetime (1452-1519).
Prince Mohammed bin Salman is rumoured to be the ‘Saudi prince’ who bought the Salvator Mundi painting in 2017 for a world-record $450.3million in New York
Experts say the pigments of the oil paints are the same as those used by Leonardo. And it was painted on a walnut wood panel — a surface he favoured.
But those doubters think it may be a ‘workshop Leonardo’: that is to say, it was painted in his studio but by one of his assistants.
At best, the master may have added the odd detail, they say, but it certainly isn’t an ‘autograph’ painting — all Leonardo’s own work — and therefore the mammoth price tag isn’t justified.
A Saudi prince bidding by phone bought the picture for $450m including fees, but it is believed he was acting on behalf of the Crown Prince
Most damning may be a recent article which quoted the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Carmen Bambach saying she was wrongly referenced in Christie’s catalogue as attributing the painting to the artist alone.
In fact Bambach stated that the work was mostly painted by ‘Leonardo’s assistant, Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio.’
Matthew Landrus, a Leonardo expert at Oxford University, suggests Salvatore Mundi is the work of da Vinci’s assistant Bernardino Luini.
And a French expert, Jacques Franck, alleges that Louvre staff ‘know that the Salvator Mundi isn’t a Leonardo’.
Who was Leonardo Da Vinci?
Scholars contest whether it is an ‘autograph’ which was painted by Da Vinci (pictured) without any input from his understudies
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, more commonly Leonardo da Vinci or simply Leonardo, is one of the greatest individuals of the last millenium.
The poly math was a driving force behind the Renaissance and dabbled in invention, painting, sculpting, architecture, science, music, mathematics, engineering, literature, anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany, writing, history, and cartography.
He has been attributed with the development of the parachute, helicopter and tank.
He was born in what is modern-day Italy in 1452 and died at the age of 67 in France.
After being born out of wedlock the visionary he worked in Milan, Rome, Bologna and Venice.
His most recognisable works include the Mona Lisa, the Last Supper, Vitruvian Man.
Another piece of artwork, dubbed the Salvator Mund, sold for a world record $450.3 million (£343 million) at a Christie’s auction in New York in 2017.