CBC reports on a high priced buy from an art auction – Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi sells for more than $450M US
Wowsers.
Dating from the 1500s, the work is billed as the final Leonardo work held in private hands, one of fewer than 20 attributed works by the artist and valued by Christie’s auction house at $100 million US.
Bidding was expected to start at around $100 million, but opened at $75 million. Christie’s said the painting drew bids from at least 45 clients, with the field narrowing as bids soared.
As they would. Jesus, lots of money for a Jesus. It’s a Jesus with some history, though, that not everyone agrees upon.
Since its unveiling in 2011, controversy has swirled around the painting, which was known to exist through copies and inclusion in inventories. The question of whether it truly is a work by the masterful Leonardo is debated to this day. Others wonder if the painted over and over-cleaned panel might actually be a piece on which da Vinci collaborated with a pupil.
Still others remain dubious because of the “incorrect” depiction of the orb in Christ’s hand: the science-obsessed Leonardo would have surely depicted the object’s light-refraction accurately, they argue.
Part of me wishes I’d thrown borrowed cash at the Art History courses in university. I probably would have enjoyed them. Sadly, I’m one of the people who just likes what she likes and can’t go much beyond that on what makes it good.
What I like: pretty much anything by Salvador Dali and Heironymous Bosch, frankly. There are others, but those two would be tops.
One Minion's Opinion 