Lost Leonardo da Vinci painting goes on auction in New York

CAIRO – 12October 2017: A rare Leonardo da Vinci painting, the last to be owned privately,will now be sold to auction in New York at Christie’s, fetching an estimated price of nearly$100 million.

The painting is titled"‘Salvator Mundi’" (Savior of the World), and depicts Jesus Christ holding a crystal sphere, gazing hauntingly at the viewer. It is amongst the fewer than 20 original paintings of Da Vinci that still exist to this day. Also being sold alongside the Salvator Mundi is a silk-screen by influential American pop artist Andy Warhol, titled “Sixty Last Suppers,”, which will fetch around $50 million.

Alex Potter, chairman of Christies, told The New York times that the rediscovery of the painting was a “miracle.”Dating back to 1500, the painting was only recently attributed to Da Vinci, and had previously been sold for $60 back in 1958, according to Christie’s.
Since that time, the painting had beenwas believed to have bedestroyed, until it mysteriously resurfaced in 2005, where a six-year process helped restore it after it was analyzed by art experts to have been a legitimate Da Vinci piece. In 2011, it was exhibited at the National Gallery in London, and then sold off privately in 2014.

Salvator Mundi will currently go on exhibit in Hong Kong, London and San Francisco before being sent back to New York.

A post shared by CHRISTIE'S (@christiesinc) on Oct 10, 2017 at 10:19am PDT