Jesus Christ Painting By Da Vinci to Sell for $100M

Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci

Salvator Mundi

"32-foot Salvator Mundi," an ethereal portrait of Jesus Christ which dates to about 1500 A.D and the last privately owned Leonardo da Vinci painting, is expected to sell for about $100 million at Christie's in November, making it among the most highly-valued works ever to be sold at auction.

The portrait which is one of fewer than 20 by the Renaissance artist known to still exist, depicts Christ in vivid blue and crimson robes holding a crystal orb.

"This is truly the Holy Grail of art rediscoveries," said Alan Wintermute, Christie's senior specialist for Old Master paintings, explaining that the portrait sometimes called the male Mona Lisa had long been thought to have been lost or destroyed. First recorded in the private collection of King Charles I, the work was auctioned in 1763 before vanishing until 1900, by which time Christ's face and hair had been painted over, which was a quite common practice."

Sold at Sotheby's to an American collector in 1958 for 45 pounds, it again sold in 2005 as an overpainted copy of the masterwork, he said. The new owner started the restoration process, and after some six years of research it was authenticated as da Vinci's more-than 500-year-old masterpiece, which culminated in a high-profile exhibition at London's National Gallery in 2011.

The auction house did not identify the seller, a European private collector who acquired the work after its rediscovery in 2005 and lengthy restoration. The painting stands as the first discovery of a da Vinci painting since 1909.

"Salvator Mundi" will be sold at Christie's in New York at its Novemeber 15 sale of post-war and contemporary art following public exhibitions in Hong Kong, London and San Francisco.

"We felt that offering this painting within that context is a testament to the enduring relevance of this picture," said Loic Gouzer, chairman of Christie's post-war and contemporary art. There has never been anything like it sold, and so the market will decide."

The 32-foot multiple-image work will sell for a whopping $100 million.

Leonardo da Vinci 

Born on the 15th of April 1452, in Anchiano, Italy Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian painter who is widely considered one of the greatest painters of all time. Among his works, the Mona Lisa is the most famous and most parodied portrait and The Last Supper the most reproduced religious painting of all time.

Leonardo da Vinci died on the 2nd of May 1519, in Clos Lucé, Amboise, France.