[imagesource:here]

A Russian oligarch, Dmitry Rybolovlev, auctioned off Leonardo da Vinci ‘Salvator Mundi’ to a little-known Saudi prince, who bought the painting for a whopping $450 million in 2017.

It’s now believed that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is the owner of the painting.

This 500-year-old painting, sometimes called the male ‘Mona Lisa’, depicts Jesus in an anachronistic Renaissance blue dress and is the most expensive painting in the world.

Literally translated as the ‘saviour of the world’, the artwork has caused a massive stir in the international art world.

Here’s more from i-D Vice:

While the painting was sold at Christie’s in 2017 and is now attributed as a previously lost, original work by da Vinci, some detractors do doubt the veracity of this, some claiming that the painting is not solely the work of Da Vinci himself.

A new documentary, The Lost Leonardo, will investigate all of this, from the painting’s murky beginnings to its mysterious restorations, all while shedding light on the dark side of the global art world and the nefarious politics that follow.

The official synopsis:

From the moment the painting is bought for $1175 at a shady New Orleans auction house, and the restorer discovers masterful Renaissance brush strokes under the heavy varnish of its cheap restoration, the Salvator Mundi’s fate is determined by an insatiable quest for fame, money and power.

As its price soars, so do questions about its authenticity: is this painting really by Leonardo da Vinci?

Unravelling the hidden agendas of the richest men and most powerful art institutions in the world,  The Lost Leonardo reveals how vested interests in the Salvator Mundi are of such tremendous power that truth becomes secondary.

Will the mystery be unlocked?

The Lost Leonardo will premiere in the US on August 13.

[source:idvice]