The small panel work of The Mocking of Christ was found this summer hanging above a hotpot by the kitchen of a house belonging to an elderly French woman. A bidding war at the auction house north of Paris saw the work soar past its estimate as collectors battled to secure the long-lost painting by the late 13th-century artist. "In 2012, after raising tens of millions of dollars, the Dallas Museum of Art attempted to buy 'Salvator Mundi.' Museum officials made a formal offer to Paris and the painting's other owners but were rebuffed after some discussion.A medieval painting by the early Italian master Cimabue that hung unnoticed for years in a house in France has sold at auction for a record €24.2 million ($26.8 million) with fees. Prior to last year's sale, Paris and two other art dealers shared ownership of the work. It wasn't until Paris acquired the work and it underwent extensive cleaning and research that it was deemed an original da Vinci formerly owned by King Charles I of England. Since 1900, the heavily over-painted canvas was attributed to Boltraffio, an artist who worked in da Vinci's studio. " 'Salvator Mundi,' a half-length protrait of Christ holding a crystal orb in one hand, was created around 1500. The details of the sale, which was organized by Sotheby's, remained confidential until this week. "Leonardo da Vinci's 'Salvator Mundi," which was discovered by American art dealer Alexander Parish at an estate sale in the mid-2000s, was sold to an unidentified collector for between $75 milllion and $80 million in May 2013. On reported on the sale of the painting: "Scholars were convinced of Leonardo's authorship due to the painting's adherence in style to the artist's known paintings the quality of execution the relationship of the painting to the two preparatory drawings its correspondence to Wenceslaus Hollar's etching its superiority to the numerous versions of the known composition and the presence of pentimenti, or changes by the artist not found in copies" (, accessed 07-10-2011). Opinions vary slightly in the matter of dating, with some assigning the work to the late 1490's, and others placing it after 1500. An unequivocal consensus was reached that the Salvator Mundi was the original by Leonardo da Vinci. "After an extensive conservation treatment, the painting was examined by a series of international scholars.
The Salvator Mundi is privately owned and not currently for sale. In 2005, the painting was acquired from an American estate and brought to a New York art historian and private dealer named Robert Simon for study. This photograph has recently been circulated in the media, as has another photo, incorrectly identified as the (recently rediscovered) work. A photograph taken before 1912 records its compromised appearance at that time. Cook's descendants sold the painting at auction in 1958, when it brought 45 pounds Sterling. All trace of the work was then lost until 1900, when the picture was acquired by Sir Frederick Cook, but by then the painting had been damaged, disfigured by overpaint, and its authorship by Leonardo forgotten. It was sold after his death, returned to the Crown upon the accession of Charles II, and later passed to the collection of the Duke of Buckingham, whose son put it at auction in 1763 following the sale of Buckingham House (now Palace) to the King. "The recently rediscovered painting was first recorded in the art collection of King Charles I of England in 1649.
The composition was documented in two preparatory drawings by Leonardo and more than 20 painted copies by students and followers of the artist, as well as a meticulous 1650 etching made after the original painting by the Bohemian artist Wenceslaus Hollar.
"Leonardo's painting of the Salvator Mundi was long known to have existed, but was presumed to have been destroyed. The last time a Leonardo painting was discovered was in 1909, when the Benois Madonna, now in the Hermitage in St.
One of some 15 surviving Leonardo oil paintings, the work will be included in 'Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan,' to be held at the National Gallery in London from Novemuntil February 5, 2012. Titled Salvator Mundi (Savior of the World) and dating around 1500, the newly discovered masterpiece depicts a half-length figure of Christ facing frontally, holding a crystal orb in his left hand as he raises his right in blessing. "A lost painting by Leonardo da Vinci has been identified in an American collection and will be exhibited for the first time this November.
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