Savior of the World (Leonardo da Vinci)

For decades, the Marquis de Ghana tried to convince the museum community of the primacy of the "Savior" that adorned his mansion in Paris. According to de Ghana, one of the former owners of the painting, Baron de Laranty, acquired it in the 19th century from a monastery in Nantes , where he was bequeathed by the widow of Louis XII ^[3] .

In 1982, the painting participated in the exhibition of works by the master in his hometown of Vinci ; This exhibition was supervised by Carlo Pedretti , an experienced specialist in attribution of Leonardesques. Despite all efforts, the Marquis failed to prove the belonging of the Paris “Savior” to the brush of Leonardo. In most modern catalogs, it is attributed to Francesco Melzi or Marco d'Odzhono .

In 1999, the picture was sold at Sotheby ’s for $ 332,000.

Also known is an engraving from the middle of the 17th century , by Václav Hollar , probably commissioned by the English Queen Henrietta Maria . If the engraving was made from the original Leonardo, then it can be concluded that at that time the picture belonged to the Stuarts . Perhaps it was this work that entered the Duke of Buckingham collection in 1688. In any case, in 1763 his descendants sold it at auction as a work of Leonardo, after which the picture’s trail was lost.

At the end of 2011, the London National Gallery announced that at the upcoming exhibition of works by Leonardo, along with his authentic works from the Milan period, brought to London from all over Europe, the “Savior of the World” from the private collection in New York will also be exhibited ^[4] . In 1900, he was acquired as the work of a Milan school by one of the richest people in Victorian England, Baronet Frederick Cook , the owner of the luxurious Montserrat Palace in Sintra . The works of Filippo Lippi , Fra Angelico , Hubert van Eyck , Diego Velasquez and Rembrandt hung in his house.

The “Savior of the World” from the Cook collection was distorted by later entries and corrections: in the era of the Counter-Reformation, the traditional mustache and beard were drawn to the beardless and strangely feminine face of the Savior. In this form, it was so difficult to attribute the picture that in 1958 Cook's heirs were able to sell it at Sotheby ’s for only 45 pounds ^[5] .

In 2004, at an unnamed auction, this work was acquired (for just under $ 10,000) by Robert Simon, a specialist in old masters , and a group of art dealers. Then the work was sent for restoration, during which it was possible to clear it of the records ^[6] . Specialists were particularly impressed by the discovery of pentimento - traces of rectifying the position of the thumb of Christ’s right hand, made by the original artist ^[7] . (The presence of significant deviations from the original intention indicates the originality of the work). The details of the restoration, which was led by Dianne Dwyer Modestini ( Dianne Dwyer Modestini ), are not disclosed.

Transfigured by restorers "Savior" was examined in several museums in Europe and the USA. Of these, only London, after consulting with leading experts, ventured to acknowledge the authorship of Leonardo. The canvas was first presented to the public at the unprecedented full exhibition "Leonardo da Vinci: court painter in Milan", which opened in London on November 9, 2011 ^[8]

As arguments for the attribution of the canvas to the genius of the Renaissance, attention was drawn to the high mastery of glass power and how it seemed to be luminous for Christ, the airy lightness of blue robes, the use of sfumato , the similarity of the pattern with sketches from Windsor Castle and the full matching of the New York Savior and London pigments " Madonna in the rocks ." Opponents of attribution (including Carlo Pedretti ^[9] ) emphasized the uniqueness of the hieratic Christ posture (which is quite traditional and has little to do with the dynamic complexity of Leonardo’s mature works), the overexposure of the right hand in comparison with other details, as well as the incorrect display of the transparent sphere symbolizing the universe ( which is more than strange for an optics specialist like Leonardo da Vinci) ^[10] .

The attribution of the New York canvas Leonardo received wide recognition among experts in the work of the artist ^[10] , so that in the summer of 2011 its market value was estimated at $ 200 million ^[11] . In 2012, an attempt to acquire a painting was undertaken by the Dallas Museum of Art ^[12] . A year later, Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev bought the canvas from art dealer Yves Bouvier for $ 127.5 million ^{[13 ]} . The picture itself cost the Bouvier itself almost two times cheaper ^[13] .

Sale in 2017

In 2015, in Monaco, a scandal erupted around the fraud allegations made by Rybolovlev against Bouvier. Against the background of press allegations that the arrest of Bouvier was organized at the instigation of Rybolovlev by the Minister of Justice Narmino, the latter was forced to resign ^[15] . In order to compensate for the losses inflicted by the Bouvier’s machinations to the Family of Fishmen, in the autumn of 2017 the painting “Savior of the World” was put up for sale ^[16] . Due to the deplorable state of the original paint layer, the starting price of the lot was estimated at only $ 100 million ^{[17] [18]} .

On the eve of the auction auction house "Christie" has developed an unprecedented activity, positioning the lot as the last pictorial work of Leonardo, remaining in private hands. Videos were posted on Youtube , where celebrities such as Leonardo di Caprio , Jennifer Lopez and Patti Smith were viewing the picture ^[19] . To see the canvas on the pre-sale show in New York, it was necessary to defend the hour line ^[20] . In order to attract the attention of the most well-to-do public, the work was transferred from the section of old masters to the section of modern art, which had never happened before.

At the New York auction on November 15, the auction pitch was unprecedented $ 30-40 million. As a result, the picture was sold for $ 400 million (450 million taking into account the auction commission), becoming the most expensive work of art in world history ^[2] . This caused controversial responses among specialists: for example, Jason Farago from The New York Times described the “Savior of the World” as a rather mediocre work for High Renaissance , not opening up new artistic horizons ^[20] . As the New York Times newspaper found out, the picture was bought by the crown prince of Saudi Arabia ^[21] . It is assumed that it will be exhibited in the new museum " Louvre Abu Dhabi " ^[22] .

Loss of picture in 2019

In March 2019, The New York Times reported the disappearance of a painting from a branch of the Paris Louvre Museum in the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi ^[23] . Before, in September 2018, the branch of the Louvre in the capital of the United Arab Emirates canceled the presentation of the painting “without explanation” ^[24] .

In June 2019, it became known that the painting was kept on the yacht of the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. The painting will be on the yacht until the authorities of Saudi Arabia build a cultural center in the El-Ula region in the province of El-Madina, where, presumably, it will be exhibited ^[25] .

• Pierluigi Panza. Il Leonardo ritrovato in America // Corriere della Sera. - 07/01/2011. - p . 43 .
• Milton Eastrow. Discovered the "Savior of the World" Leonardo, who was considered to be missing for centuries // ARTnews. - 2011.