Saudi Prince Bought Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi”

CEBU, Philippines — Recently, Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi” (circa 1500) made international headlines when it sold at Christie’s auction for $450.3 million. That made the painting the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction. Since then, many have speculated about the mystery bidder who took home the work; for a while no one had revealed the owner. And then, some of the first clues about where the work would end up merged.

In an Instagram post, the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the new Emirati branch of the Parisian museum that opened in Arab land, said that “Salvator Mundi” was on its way to the museum. Later, on Twitter, the museum revealed that it had, in fact, acquired the work through Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism.

Christie’s had said that the work is a commission from King Louis XII of France and his wife, Anne of Brittany, but some specialists and critics have cast doubt on whether it really is one of the few known Leonardo works in existence. The painting was initially sold for just £45 at Sotheby’s in London in 1958, although the work was not attributed to Leonardo at that time. It was later considered a copy of a Leonardo painting, and then after it was restored, in 2011, it was authenticated as a true Leonardo. Following a showing at London’s National Gallery of Art, it was sold to Yves Bouvier for around $80 million. Bouvier then sold it to Dmitry Rybolovlev, the embattled Russian businessman, for $127.5 million.

Then it was known – the buyer of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi” at the Christie’s auction is the Saudi Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan al-Saud. The buyer’s identity, reported by the New York Times, was discovered in the midst of an investigation into Saudi Arabia’s elite class, including Prince Bader’s family and associates, who have been criticized for their showy displays of wealth.

Prince Bader is not well-known as an art collector. It had been speculated all along, however, that the buyer might have hailed from the Middle East, particularly following posts on social media announcing that the painting was making its way to the Louvre Abu Dhabi, which has acquired the work through Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism.

At the fateful auction where “Salvator Mundi” wound up making international headlines when it soared past figures ever previously seen at auction, Christie’s postwar and contemporary art co-chairman Alex Rotter was representing Prince Bader in the room. Other anonymous bidders vied for the work, but their names had not been revealed. According to the New York Times, Prince Bader was paying for “Salvator Mundi” in six installments, with at least five of them priced at more than $58 million.

Before it sold for a total of $450.3 million, the lot had been expected to be an expensive one – but it far exceeded expectations on its way to smashing auction records of all kinds. Many years earlier, in 1958, it initially sold at Sotheby’s for a measly £45, when it was not yet authenticated as a true Leonardo. (www.artnews.com)