Leonardo da Vinci painting sells for $450m at auction, smashing records

[Political Junky]

Awesome.

Leonardo da Vinci painting sells for $450m at auction, smashing records

Christie’s sells long-lost Salvator Mundi, artwork billed as ‘biggest discovery of the 21st century’, for $400m plus auction house premium

 

[MarathonMike]

I'm trying to understand why that's a good thing.

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - it's prob'ly a fake painting...

'Da Vinci artwork' sells for record $450m
Thu, 16 Nov 2017 - Salvator Mundi, reputedly painted by the artist, is sold by Christie's in New York for $450m.

A 500-year-old painting of Christ believed to have been painted by Leonardo da Vinci has been sold in New York for a record $450m (£341m). The painting is known as Salvator Mundi (Saviour of the World). It is the highest auction price for any work of art and brought cheers and applause at the packed Christie's auction room. Leonardo da Vinci died in 1519 and there are fewer than 20 of his paintings in existence. Just one is thought to be in private hands - the Salvator Mundi, believed to have been painted sometime after 1505. The final bid for the work was $400m, with fees bringing the full price up to $450.3m. The unidentified buyer was involved in a bidding contest, via telephone, that lasted nearly 20 minutes.

The painting has been cleaned and restored from the image on the left to the one on the right​

The painting shows Christ with one hand raised, the other holding a glass sphere. In 1958 it was sold at auction in London for $60. By then the painting was generally reckoned to be the work of a follower of Leonardo and not the work of Leonardo himself. BBC arts correspondent Vincent Dowd says that even now, the attribution to Leonardo is not universally accepted. One critic even described the surface of the painting to be "inert, varnished, lurid, scrubbed over and repainted so many times that it looks simultaneously new and old". "Any private collector who gets suckered into buying this picture and places it in their apartment or storage, it serves them right," Jenny Saltz wrote on Vulture.com.

But Christie's insist the painting is authentic and billed it as "the greatest artistic rediscovery of the 20th century". When in 2005 the Salvator Mundi re-emerged from obscurity, it created huge public interest as a "lost Leonardo". Four years ago it was bought by a Russian collector for $127.5m (£98m) - but that was a private sale, not at auction. Christie's in New York placed a starting bid of $100m at its auction of post-war and contemporary art.

Excitement in the auction room rose as the bids by telephone came in​

Salvator Mundi - da Vinci's 'mysterious masterpiece'

* The painting is being sold by the family trust of the Russian billionaire collector Dmitry E Rybolovlev, who is reported to have bought it in May 2013
* It apparently once belonged to King Charles I of England in the 1500s and was "rediscovered" in 2005
* Dr Tim Hunter, who is a specialist in Old Master and 19th Century paintings, says it is "the biggest discovery of the 21st Century"
* The painting has had major cosmetic surgery - its walnut panel base has been described as "worm-tunnelled" and at some point it seems to have been split in half - and efforts to restore it resulted in abrasions
* The previous top painting sale was Picasso's Women of Algiers, which sold for $160m

'Da Vinci artwork' sells for record $450m

 

[theDoctorisIn]

I'm trying to understand why that's a good thing.

It's not a "good" thing, or a "bad" thing.

Just a thing.

 

[my2¢]

A moment after reflecting the genius of da Vinci, I got to wondering how expensive would it be to insure this masterpiece? It is a sort of an issue that helps me appreciate not being rich.

 

[Dekster]

Put a roach clip with a burning joint in Jesus's upward pointed hand and Leonardo would have foretold 70's pop culture hundreds of years beforehand.

 

[sealybobo]

Awesome.

Leonardo da Vinci painting sells for $450m at auction, smashing records

Christie’s sells long-lost Salvator Mundi, artwork billed as ‘biggest discovery of the 21st century’, for $400m plus auction house premium

I’m watching an ancient alien on the man. They say airplanes, NASA, mechanical design, crossbows, submarines, aerial maps, human anatomy all attributed to Leonardo

Born 1452. From 1476- 1478 he disappeared. Where was he? Did aliens give him advance knowledge?

I never knew. I just thought he was an artist. A great artist.

I love it how every couple hundred years or so some really smart person is born who advances the human race.

1513 he started dissecting corpses even though the penalty was death from the Vatican

 

[sealybobo]

I'm trying to understand why that's a good thing.

Are you kidding? A man produces something and it’s worth millions. This is the foundation of our economy.

I with I could make something worth $50

 

[Dale Smith]

Awesome.

Leonardo da Vinci painting sells for $450m at auction, smashing records

Christie’s sells long-lost Salvator Mundi, artwork billed as ‘biggest discovery of the 21st century’, for $400m plus auction house premium

I’m watching an ancient alien on the man. They say airplanes, NASA, mechanical design, crossbows, submarines, aerial maps, human anatomy all attributed to Leonardo

Born 1452. From 1476- 1478 he disappeared. Where was he? Did aliens give him advance knowledge?

I never knew. I just thought he was an artist. A great artist.

I love it how every couple hundred years or so some really smart person is born who advances the human race.

1513 he started dissecting corpses even though the penalty was death from the Vatican

The Vatican wasn't established as the official city/state of the catholic church until 1929.

 

[Moonglow]

Put a roach clip with a burning joint in Jesus's upward pointed hand and Leonardo would have foretold 70's pop culture hundreds of years beforehand.

They did it then also.

 

[Moonglow]

Awesome.

Leonardo da Vinci painting sells for $450m at auction, smashing records

Christie’s sells long-lost Salvator Mundi, artwork billed as ‘biggest discovery of the 21st century’, for $400m plus auction house premium

I’m watching an ancient alien on the man. They say airplanes, NASA, mechanical design, crossbows, submarines, aerial maps, human anatomy all attributed to Leonardo

Born 1452. From 1476- 1478 he disappeared. Where was he? Did aliens give him advance knowledge?

I never knew. I just thought he was an artist. A great artist.

I love it how every couple hundred years or so some really smart person is born who advances the human race.

1513 he started dissecting corpses even though the penalty was death from the Vatican

The Vatican wasn't established as the official city/state of the catholic church until 1929.

They had to kill off the competition first.

 

[Moonglow]

I'm trying to understand why that's a good thing.

Are you kidding? A man produces something and it’s worth millions. This is the foundation of our economy.

I with I could make something worth $50

You can, produce it then die.

 

[Dale Smith]

Awesome.

Leonardo da Vinci painting sells for $450m at auction, smashing records

Christie’s sells long-lost Salvator Mundi, artwork billed as ‘biggest discovery of the 21st century’, for $400m plus auction house premium

I’m watching an ancient alien on the man. They say airplanes, NASA, mechanical design, crossbows, submarines, aerial maps, human anatomy all attributed to Leonardo

Born 1452. From 1476- 1478 he disappeared. Where was he? Did aliens give him advance knowledge?

I never knew. I just thought he was an artist. A great artist.

I love it how every couple hundred years or so some really smart person is born who advances the human race.

1513 he started dissecting corpses even though the penalty was death from the Vatican

The Vatican wasn't established as the official city/state of the catholic church until 1929.

They had to kill off the competition first.

That comment is a bit confusing.........

 

[sealybobo]

Awesome.

Leonardo da Vinci painting sells for $450m at auction, smashing records

Christie’s sells long-lost Salvator Mundi, artwork billed as ‘biggest discovery of the 21st century’, for $400m plus auction house premium

I’m watching an ancient alien on the man. They say airplanes, NASA, mechanical design, crossbows, submarines, aerial maps, human anatomy all attributed to Leonardo

Born 1452. From 1476- 1478 he disappeared. Where was he? Did aliens give him advance knowledge?

I never knew. I just thought he was an artist. A great artist.

I love it how every couple hundred years or so some really smart person is born who advances the human race.

1513 he started dissecting corpses even though the penalty was death from the Vatican

The Vatican wasn't established as the official city/state of the catholic church until 1929.

Hey, argue with ancient aliens. Di Vinci worked for the pope no?

 

[Moonglow]

Awesome.

Leonardo da Vinci painting sells for $450m at auction, smashing records

Christie’s sells long-lost Salvator Mundi, artwork billed as ‘biggest discovery of the 21st century’, for $400m plus auction house premium

I’m watching an ancient alien on the man. They say airplanes, NASA, mechanical design, crossbows, submarines, aerial maps, human anatomy all attributed to Leonardo

Born 1452. From 1476- 1478 he disappeared. Where was he? Did aliens give him advance knowledge?

I never knew. I just thought he was an artist. A great artist.

I love it how every couple hundred years or so some really smart person is born who advances the human race.

1513 he started dissecting corpses even though the penalty was death from the Vatican

Nostrodamas was alive during the same time period, not only renown for his prognostications and astrology charts he also was the first physician to discover cures for the plague..

 

[Dale Smith]

Awesome.

Leonardo da Vinci painting sells for $450m at auction, smashing records

Christie’s sells long-lost Salvator Mundi, artwork billed as ‘biggest discovery of the 21st century’, for $400m plus auction house premium

I’m watching an ancient alien on the man. They say airplanes, NASA, mechanical design, crossbows, submarines, aerial maps, human anatomy all attributed to Leonardo

Born 1452. From 1476- 1478 he disappeared. Where was he? Did aliens give him advance knowledge?

I never knew. I just thought he was an artist. A great artist.

I love it how every couple hundred years or so some really smart person is born who advances the human race.

1513 he started dissecting corpses even though the penalty was death from the Vatican

The Vatican wasn't established as the official city/state of the catholic church until 1929.

Hey, argue with ancient aliens. Di Vinci worked for the pope no?

What does that have to do with the fact that the Vatican wasn't the home of the pope back then?

 

[Moonglow]

Awesome.

Leonardo da Vinci painting sells for $450m at auction, smashing records

Christie’s sells long-lost Salvator Mundi, artwork billed as ‘biggest discovery of the 21st century’, for $400m plus auction house premium

I’m watching an ancient alien on the man. They say airplanes, NASA, mechanical design, crossbows, submarines, aerial maps, human anatomy all attributed to Leonardo

Born 1452. From 1476- 1478 he disappeared. Where was he? Did aliens give him advance knowledge?

I never knew. I just thought he was an artist. A great artist.

I love it how every couple hundred years or so some really smart person is born who advances the human race.

1513 he started dissecting corpses even though the penalty was death from the Vatican

The Vatican wasn't established as the official city/state of the catholic church until 1929.

They had to kill off the competition first.

That comment is a bit confusing.........

They could have established the Vatican earlier but had to kill off the competition, and that took thirteen hundred years to accomplish.

 

[deanrd]

Wow, gay men are so talented.

If a Republican makes that much, it's from a scam. Look at Trump.

 

[sealybobo]

Awesome.

Leonardo da Vinci painting sells for $450m at auction, smashing records

Christie’s sells long-lost Salvator Mundi, artwork billed as ‘biggest discovery of the 21st century’, for $400m plus auction house premium

I’m watching an ancient alien on the man. They say airplanes, NASA, mechanical design, crossbows, submarines, aerial maps, human anatomy all attributed to Leonardo

Born 1452. From 1476- 1478 he disappeared. Where was he? Did aliens give him advance knowledge?

I never knew. I just thought he was an artist. A great artist.

I love it how every couple hundred years or so some really smart person is born who advances the human race.

1513 he started dissecting corpses even though the penalty was death from the Vatican

The Vatican wasn't established as the official city/state of the catholic church until 1929.

Hey, argue with ancient aliens. Di Vinci worked for the pope no?

What does that have to do with the fact that the Vatican wasn't the home of the pope back then?

So where did the priests take young boys?

 

[there4eyeM]

This is the one transcendent attribute of mankind; creativity.