Leonardo da Vinci's "Salvator Mundi", the most expensive painting in the world, has disappeared
Leonardo da Vinci's "Salvator Mundi", the most expensive painting in the world, has disappeared
The "Salvator Mundi" by Leonardo da Vinci, awarded $ 450 million in 2017, has disappeared from radar since its historic sale in the art world. The Louvre, however, wants it to figure in his major retrospective Vinci planned this fall.
"Salvator Mundi" by Leonardo da Vinci
Credit: TOLGA AKMEN / AFP
The most expensive painting in the world is at the heart of an enigma. The Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci, sold $ 450 million in 2017 , is no longer reappeared in public, while France and Italy on Thursday to commemorate 500 years of the death of the Italian genius . A few months away from the big Leonardo da Vinci retrospective planned this autumn at the Louvre, the location of this painting remains a mystery .
The Louvre hopes that this work will be included in the exhibition. "The Louvre has asked the Department of Culture and Tourism of Abu Dhabi the table ready," confirms the museum in Paris. But "we do not have the answer yet", he adds, while doubts persist about the authenticity of the work. Even today, it is unclear who bought the painting .
According to the Wall Street Journal , the buyer is the Saudi prince Badr ben Abdallah, acting on behalf of the powerful Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed ben Salman , who has never confirmed or denied.
According to Artprice , world leader in the art rating database, the ulema (theologians) of Cairo's Al Azhar University warned against "MBS" to be displayed with the painting for religious reasons : Jesus is considered a prophet, but the painting represents him as savior of the world, therefore God, impossible representation in Islam.
Other sources, including historians of religion, corroborate this view. Still, the Salvator Mundi was to be exhibited last September at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, partner of the Paris museum. But the Emirati museum has announced to surprise the postponement of the exhibition .
In Abu Dhabi? Or Geneva?
The UAE Ministry of Culture and Tourism did not wish to respond to AFP, only assuring that they were "owners" of the painting . Also requested, the International Council of Museums, which records the deposit of works in museums, also did not wish to confirm whether or not a procedure had been initiated between the Louvre Abu Dhabi and the owner of Salvator Mundi to formalize the deposit.
On the current location of the painting, the experts interviewed are divided: some see it in the reserves of the Louvre Abu Dhabi , but others believe it never happened, the one evoking "a museum in Geneva" ...
The paternity of da Vinci disputed
These mysteries are added to the recurring doubts of some scholars about the paternity of the work, which could have been done by Leonardo's disciples , not by the master. "Some details do not deceive", like the poor execution of a finger - "the rotation of the major on itself", "anatomically impossible" - even as Da Vinci was a great connoisseur of the human body, says Jacques Franck, specialist of the pictorial technique of Italian genius.
"At the time when the painting was painted (around 1500), Leonardo da Vinci had his work done through his workshop," he continues. Daniel Salvatore Schiffer, philosopher of art and connoisseur of the subject, "denies" also the "paternity" of the painting ":" when we analyze in detail, nothing is Leonardo, it is not in his mind In addition, he says, " Salvator Mundi has never been mentioned in Leonardo da Vinci's correspondence ," nor in that of his contemporaries.
A "geopolitical issue"
It is the doubts about the paternity of the painting that would have "incited the owner of the painting" not to expose it until the experts have not agreed, according to Jacques Franck. "If the Louvre has still not received a response to a few months of exposure, it is that the work will not be presented," he predicts. This is for him a "geopolitical issue".
The Louvre could "stain its credibility and reputation" by endorsing a work on which there are still doubts, also believes Daniel Salvatore Schiffer. The Louvre Abu Dhabi, the first museum to bear the name of the Louvre outside France, was inaugurated in November 2017 by French President Emmanuel Macron and the strongman of the United Arab Emirates,
The partnership between the two countries provides that Paris brings its expertise , lends works of art and organizes temporary exhibitions against a billion euros. The only concession of the name of the Louvre until 2037 brings to the Paris museum 400 million euros.
The credibility of Christie's also at stake
But the credibility of Christie's , the auction house that had organized the record auction, is also at stake, according to experts. "We are sticking to the extensive research that led to the attribution of the painting in 2010. No new discussion or speculation since the 2017 sale at Christie's has prompted us to review this position," said a spokesman for the house of sales.
Without raising the mystery about the current location of the star table, it simply confirms that it has been transferred "successfully" to its "new owners" , "under the control of competent experts".
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