The last Da Vinci in private hands sold for $450m on Wednesday evening after a fevered, 19-minute long round of bidding at Christie’s in Manhattan. It is believed to be the most expensive piece of art ever sold.
Salvator Mundi — Latin for Saviour of the World — is one of roughly 15 surviving works by Leonardo da Vinci and depicts Jesus Christ in a flowing robe, holding a crystal orb and raising his right hand in benediction.
The 67.5cm tall portrait, painted around 1500 and once owned by King Charles I of England, was presumed lost until its rediscovery in 2005. It was publicly unveiled at the Da Vinci exhibition at the National Gallery in London in 2011 following an extensive restoration to fix years of overpainting and neglect.
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