The most expensive painting in the world has been stored in a customs warehouse for several years.
For several years, nothing was known about the fate of Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, which was sold at Christie’s in New York in 2017 for a record $450 million.
The painting of Jesus is believed to have been purchased by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, but he has never officially confirmed this.
A new documentary by the British television company BBC has shed light on this story: American professor and Middle East expert Bernard Haykel learned from the Saudi Arabian Minister of Culture that da Vinci’s creation is stored in a Geneva customs warehouse.
The Saudi Crown Prince wants to build a museum for the painting in Riyadh. In the meantime, customs, or rather, private warehouses controlled by customs, are the best place for it. They maintain ideal temperatures and humidity, and the premises are reliably guarded. The customs warehouse in Geneva holds more than a million works of art.
In 2005, the painting “Salvator Mundi” was sold for only $1,175. After extensive restoration work, it was attributed to Leonardo da Vinci. Although there are doubts about the authorship in the art world, its price has skyrocketed by 2017: Christie’s auctions began at $100 million.
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.