A long lost painting has been found after years of it being missing. It is actually a painting done by one of the greatest painters of all time, Leonardo da Vinci. The Salvator Mundi or the Savior of the World was said to be pained by da Vinci around the same time he painted the most famous painting in the world, The Mona Lisa. Believe it or not, this said painting was actually sold for $60 in 1958 because no one really knew of checked at that time if this is actually worth more than that. It turns out that it is actually a classic painting from one of the greats, that is why it will no be put up for auction for $100 million.
DA VINCI’S WORKS
Leonardo da Vinci has got to be one of the most celebrated painters in the world from the Italian Renaissance. He is known for his paintings such as the very famous, Mona Lisa, which is known to be the most famous -and valuable- painting in history, most parodied work of art, most written about, and most sung about painting. It even holds a Guinness World Record, as its insurance valuation is the highest known in the history of the world with one hundred million dollars. It is a half-length portrait painting of Lisa Gherardini. The Mona Lisa found its home at the Louvre Museum in Paris because the painting was bought by the French King Francis the 1st.
Da Vinci was also known for painting the Last Supper, which is actually a mural win about that can be found in the convent of Santa Maria dells Grazie in Milan, Italy. This mural was painted on a really thin exterior wall, which makes it incredibly difficult to maintain because of the effects of humidity, it even started to flake and deteriorate a few years after it was painted. It took 21 years to actually restore this masterpiece.
The Vitruvian Man was also made by Da Vinci, but it is actually just a drawing that contains notes based on the work of Vitruvius. It actually depicts a man in two superimposed positions with his arms and legs apart and it is inscribed both circle and square.
SALVATOR MUNDI
Most people know a lot about Da Vinci’s other works, but there are actually a lot of paintings out there that have either been destroyed or are not acknowledged. The Salvator Mundi is one of those paintings that has only been recently considered as a work of the great Da Vinci himself. It is a painting of Christ wearing a Renaissance dress and is also giving a benediction with his raised right hand that also shows how his fingers are crossed whilst his left hand hold a crystal sphere.
According to historians, it was made for Louis XII of France between the years of 1506 and 1503. This painting owned by Charles I of England that was part of his art collection in the year 1649. Unfortunately, it was auctioned by his son in 1763 and the painting was never seen again until the 1900’s where it was purchased by Francis Cook, who is the 1st Viscount of Monserrate.
The painting has been restored pretty badly a couple of times over the years which is why it was even sold in an auction for $60. It reappeared in 2005 it was presented to another auction but this time, it was carefully examined which is how they actually managed to find out that it was indeed a masterpiece of Da Vinci.
$100 MILLION FOR AUCTION
This 500-year old painting will be put up for auction this coming November 2017. The auction house, Christie’s, said that they are expecting to get more than $100 million for this Da Vinci classic, they also said that the previous owner of this painting refuses to reveal his or her true identity.
The stunning ‘long-lost’ Da Vinci painting expected to fetch $100 million at auction. #DaVinci https://t.co/aAMZyoXKri pic.twitter.com/ekNQyDJwW6 — HISTORY (@HISTORY) October 15, 2017
There are only 15 Da Vinci artworks that exist up to this day, and they consider this one to be the “Holy Grail of art rediscoveries” because of how much it had been through for the last hundreds of years. Before it will be up for auction, the Salvator Mundi will be shown first in San Francisco, Hong Kong, and London, before it comes back to New York in November.
