Before Rybolovlev, Salvator Mundi had been owned by a consortium of dealers including Alexander Parish, who had picked it up for $10,000 at an estate sale in the US in 2005, and had had it restored and authenticated. In contrast, there are currently only nine pre-1875 paintings among the listed top 89, and none created between 1635 and 1874. So of course, da Vinci never called it the Codex Leicester or the Codex Hammer. (Swiss authorities investigated him for defrauding Rybolovlev over several artworks, but this year closed the case without charging him.) How many Leonardo da Vinci paintings are there? a 2011 exhibition at the National Gallery in London, Art Bust: Scandalous Stories of the Art World, Kim Kardashian was photographed next to it. One of two pastel versions; another two painted versions (and lithography) exist, all created by Munch. The earliest sale on the list below (Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh) is from March 1987; with a price of 24.75 million (74.1 million in 2021 currency). Privately resold for ca. His notebooks reveal a spirit of scientific inquiry and a mechanical inventiveness that were centuries ahead of their time. Moreover, he was no doubt enticed by Duke Ludovico Sforzas brilliant court and the meaningful projects awaiting him there. 7 | The Macklowe Collection | | Sotheby", "Sale Offers a Reason for Relief at Sotheby's", "Ming Dynasty Scroll Sells for Record $77 Million at Auction", The Collection of Eleanore and Daniel Saidenberg, Francis Bacon (19091992) Portrait of George Dyer Talking, Francis Bacon Work Sells for $70 Million at Christies Auction, "sGallery: A Gauguin and a van Gogh Change Hands", Andy Warhol's "Four Marlons" auction results, "Magritte 'Masterpiece' Sells for Record-Breaking $79.8 M. During Sotheby's Sale", "China auction sees Qi Baishi painting sell for $65m", "The buyer of 422.5 Million Qi Baishi painting revealed", "What Are The Top 10 Al-Thani Family Art Acquisitions? Therell never be another painting that I shall sell for more than this painting tonight.. Biography Of Leonardo da Vinci: How Old Is Leonardo da Vinci | Net Worth | People ProfilesPeople Profiles is a channel that dives deep into the lives of some. In the days leading up the the sale, Christies produced a video of celebrities viewing the work, among them Leonardo DiCaprio and Patti Smith. The sale places Salvator Mundi as the highest-priced work sold privately or at auction, including Pablo Picassos 1955 Women of Algiers (Version O), sold for $179.4m, and Amedeo Modiglianis 1917-18 Reclining Nude, sold for $170.4m. Thanks for joining me. The general attitude toward art crime, he says, used to be shrugged off as "it's billionaires spending money, crooking each other", but today there is a realisation that "no, you can't loot that country's entire cultural heritage". People who often would never get a chance to visit the great museums of the world. He had an exceedingly inquisitive mind and made strenuous efforts to become erudite in languages, natural science, mathematics, philosophy, and history, among other subjects. It depicts the dramatic scene described in several closely connected moments in the Gospels, including Matthew 26: . So, they decided to hold an auction through Christie's, and it took place in London in December 1980. Early Life: Verrocchio's Pupil. During this period Leonardo worked on a grandiose sculptural project that seems to have been the real reason he was invited to Milan: a monumental equestrian statue in bronze to be erected in honour of Francesco Sforza, the founder of the Sforza dynasty. SIMON: He spent much more time as a writer, a scientist, a draftsman than he did as a painter. But when I saw it, it didn't sit comfortably with me as an autograph Leonardo." That estimate sort of got you thinking in another direction, though, right Chase? A jump to $370. What is Leonardo da Vinci best known for? Rybolovlev resold Te Fare in February 2017 at Christie's in London for $25 million. PETERSON-WITHORN: So I thought this was super fascinating that you could actually consider a work of art as something that could not only hold value and appreciate in value, but could also be a business, generating income for its owner over time. So I thought, "What if Gates cut up all the drawings into individual little works of art and sold them off that way? In The Lost Leonardo, Evan Beard, a Bank of America executive who deals with art as investment, talks about the common buyers' motive of using artworks as collateral for other financial manoeuvres. Head of anApostle. The final winning bid? PETERSON-WITHORN: Thanks for listening to Priceless. Then we look at the condition, and we base the condition on what's in our hands, and how you look at a book thats 150, 170 years old. An attempt to psychoanalyze the buyer of Leonardo da Vinci's 'Salvator Mundi.' Tim Schneider , November 17, 2017 The scene at Christie's New York on November 15. Leonardo devoted 12 yearswith interruptionsto this task. Bin Salman himself visited President Emmanuel Macron in Paris while the loan was dangling in the balance. The Virgin and Child with St Anne was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci in 1510. Nonetheless, the exhibition went a long way toward legitimising a shaky attribution. What Gouzer may have meant is that buyers prepared to spend in excess of $100m on artwork exist in the modern and contemporary fields. Months earlier, he had appeared on the cover of Forbes, and he was a member of our very first Forbes 400 ranking. The Burlington House Cartoon by Leonardo da Vinci. Last Supper, Italian Cenacolo, one of the most famous artworks in the world, painted by Leonardo da Vinci probably between 1495 and 1498 for the Dominican monastery Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. The collector acquired it from Bouvier for $127m, who had in turn acquired it from Sothebys in a private sale in 2013 for about $50m less. That included footing the bill for not only the Codex he purchased for the $5 million in 1980, but also the tens of millions of dollars spent creating his own art museum in Los Angeles. However, other critics have disagreed with the truth of that claim. As a master artist, Leonardo maintained an extensive workshop in Milan, employing apprentices and students. And that was the process. Leonardo da Vincis total output in painting is really rather small; there are less than 20 surviving paintings that can be definitely attributed to him, and several of them are unfinished. In 1472 Leonardo was accepted into the painters guild of Florence, but he remained in his teachers workshop for five more years, after which time he worked independently in Florence until 1481. As of 2023, Leonardo da Vinci's net worth is $320 million. The alleged vandalism attempt on Sunday left the painting's glass covered in cake frosting. Well, as we mentioned, the most expensive painting ever sold at auction was the Salvator Mundi for $450 million. What was Leonardo da Vincis family like? With closing fees from the auction house, it came out to $30.8 million. On the telephone in this room at $28 million. The image of Christ as The Saviour of the World was billed as The Last da Vinci at Christie's 2017 auction, where it sold for a record $450 million (342 million) to a proxy for bin Salman (yes, that bin Salman, whom the CIA found responsible for ordering the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi). The Virgin and Child with St Anne by Leonardo da Vinci. He Died in May 2, 1519 in Amboise, Kingdom of France.His Famous works includes Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, The Vitruvian Man Style/Period: High Renaissance Biography. During this first Milanese period he also made one of his most famous works, the monumental wall painting Last Supper (149598) in the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie (for more analysis of this work, see below Last Supper). TINDERA: On sale is a one-of-a kind Leonardo da Vinci manuscript known as the Codex Hammer. But there would, there are people in the world that would probably do that. Last Supper (c. 1495-98) Leonardo da Vinci: Last Supper Images Group/REX/Shutterstock.com. PETERSON-WITHORN: After the auction, he told the press, I'm very happy with the price. If you would like to comment on this story or anything else you have seen on BBC Culture, head over to ourFacebookpage or message us onTwitter. A Malevich Suprematist Composition sold for $85.8 million at Christies, breaking the record for a work of Russian art. Explore the life of Italian painter, architect, engineer, and humanist Leonardo da Vinci. This is a list of the highest known prices paid for paintings. ARCHIVAL CLIP OF ARMAND HAMMER: I guess I'm wearing a great many hats. TINDERA: Ultimately, in his appraisal, which Simon submitted in December 1993. Re-sold for 12m to Stavros Niarchos in 1993. Mona Lisa is not only Leonardo da Vinci's most famous painting but the entire world's most famous painting. This possibly-Leonardo treasure's route to fame began when it surfaced at an obscure New Orleans auction house in 2005 and was bought by two New York dealers for a measly $1,175. Leonardo Da Vinci 1503 It was kept it at the Palace at Fontainebleau, where it remained until King Louis XIV moved the painting to the Palace of Versailles. When asked whether Salvator Mundis involvement in the Rybolovlev-Bouvier case might overshadow its sale, Christies postwar and contemporary chairman, Loc Gouzer, who secured the work with a $100m guarantee, said: We cannot comment about sellers, but it has every passport, every visa.. It looks interesting. After the sale, Pylkknen said the sale had been his ultimate privilege. The painting was sold in November 2017,[1][2] through the auction house Christie's in New York City. But as it turned out, he also had his own personal connection to the Codex. [11][12] Prices realised for just his nine paintings listed below, when adjusted for inflation to 2017, add up to over US$900million. I think it's the greatest acquisition I ever made. CBS CLIP, CONNIE CHUNG: You know, you may be the richest man in America, or at least the second-richest man in America. Leonardo da Vinci not only developed his skill in drawing, painting and sculpting during his apprenticeship, but through others working in and around the studio, he picked up knowledge in such diverse fields as mechanics, carpentry, metallurgy, architectural drafting and chemistry. Christie's billed the painting as an original work by Leonardo da Vinci himself. The documentary covers much of the same ground as The Lost Leonardo, but less stylishly, with too many stock establishing shots of cities. MASSEY: Twenty-five million, twenty-six million. So, I think we could legitimately set the floor at that price. The auction house would not reveal the identity of the buyer or even the region from which they came. He told us via email that his guess would be, "over $100 million." TINDERA: That's Gates talking for a video posted on his blog a few years ago, around the time that he exhibited the Codex Leicester in some museums in Europe. This stands as the most expensive painting by a living artist. And if you liked this story,sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter, called The Essential List. WINSTON: So once we've deduced that it's a first edition because it meets all of this criteria. At that time this was the 4th highest (unadjusted) price at auction and 10th highest price on this list. He's gone to extra lengths to make this work as a whole more accessible to the public. (crowd laughs) Good start. It may have been that the rather sophisticated spirit of Neoplatonism prevailing in the Florence of the Medici went against the grain of Leonardos experience-oriented mind and that the more strict, academic atmosphere of Milan attracted him. That these tales can work in a podcast, where no one can even see the work being described, suggests how much the allure of today's art-crime stories is in the skulduggery and mystery, not aesthetics. See a gallery of the world's most expensive paintings, Leonardo da Vincis Salvator Mundi sold for $400 million at Christies ($450.3m, including auction house premium), One of four versions of The Scream created by Munch and the only one that is privately owned. But now the Salvator Mundi has become the poster boy for the volatile mix of money, power and geopolitics that defines the art world today. PETERSON-WITHORN: Art is one of the toughest things we value for our lists, because the value is just so subjective, and you really don't know what something will sell for until it hits the auction block. She spent years restoring the painting, and passionately defends its authenticity in precise detail, pointing out the pentimento under Christ's thumb or a curve of his mouth that could only be Leonardo's. One of the most famous paintings in the world, the Last Supper was commissioned by Ludovico Sforza, duke of Milan and Leonardo's patron during his first stay in that city, for the Dominican monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie. [3] It then becomes a first edition of Moby Dick. I'm going to show it all over the world.. At an auction held at Christie's New York in 2016 during a contemporary art event, Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci turned into the most expensive painting ever sold, selling for $450 million at the end of a nineteen-minute bidding war. Leonardo da Vinci, (Italian: Leonardo from Vinci) (born April 15, 1452, Anchiano, near Vinci, Republic of Florence [Italy]died May 2, 1519, Cloux [now Clos-Luc], France), Italian painter, draftsman, sculptor, architect, and engineer whose skill and intelligence, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal. She even has her own mailbox. A jump to $400m. The piece is sold.. But we ended up contacting others who we thought might know the work well, too. But it does have two anonymous sources, their faces hidden on camera, identified as high-ranking French government officials who had access to the Louvre's studies of the painting and to the French-Saudi negotiations. But many experts on camera and elsewhere in the press think he leapt to an early conclusion. The winning bidder would later be revealed to be Saudi Arabia's Prince. TINDERA: Now the audience in the room doesnt know this, but a representative for Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates is bidding on the phone. An exceptional case is graffiti artist David Choe, who accepted payment in shares for painting graffiti art in the headquarters of a fledgling Facebook. This sale tripled the previous record, and introduced a new era in top art sales. It's now been determined that his painting is not, in fact, a da Vinci. TINDERA: The Italian government had reportedly been expected to participate in the auction. You can't really show it offwhether it's to your best friends or in a museum if you're a public institution. The Return to Italy - the Mona Lisa disappeared from the Louvre Museum in 1911. But he went even beyond that. 1 (Royal Red and Blue)", "Claude Monet (18401926), Odalisque couche aux magnolias", "Basquiat Tops Phillips Contemporary Sale at $85 Million", "Titian masterpiece Diana and Callisto saved for nation", "No. He also pulled together a list of artwork that he found it to be similar to. I cannot say if he or she will want to be public.. Inside besides da Vinci's writings, there are also about 360 drawings and diagrams throughout the manuscript. At one point, Pylkknen remarked: Historic moment, well wait as the the bidding went back and forth, pausing at just over $200m as it rose to break the auction record. It came close. The saleroom erupted in cheers and applause. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. If one drawing sold for $12 million, that would mean that he could sell off this whole book clipped to pieces and earn something like $4 billion. - The world's greatest art detective, - The men who Leonardo da Vinci loved, - The detail that unlocks the Mona Lisa. Steve Wynn, who bid on the painting at auction, privately acquired the work several months later from the unidentified buyer for an undisclosed, supposedly lower price. 1 for US$44.4 million (equivalent to US$50.8million in 2021). The quality of the painting itself divides people. Trained in Florence as a painter and sculptor in the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio (1435-1488), Leonardo is also celebrated for his scientific contributions. At $28 million. Previewing the lot last month, Christies described the painting of Christ holding a crystal orb in his left hand and raising his right in benediction as the biggest discovery of the 21st century. The sale of Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers was the first time a "modern" (in this case 1888) painting became the record holder, as opposed to the old master paintings which previously had dominated the market. It's on the last telephone at $28 million. He created something he called the Codescope, which was software built to help museum-goers actually read da Vinci's backwards scrawl. So that was kind of the basic first principle. 1503-1519). Before this, the highest absolute price paid for a painting was 8.1 million (20.4 million in 2021 currency) paid by the J. Paul Getty Museum for Andrea Mantegna's Adoration of the Magi at Christie's in London on 18 April 1985. Somewhere in Saudi Arabia, hidden away by order of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, is the world's most expensive painting, Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi. Robert Simon told us that he thought it would not sell for less than $150 million. His father, Ser Piero, was a Florentine notary and landlord, and his mother, Caterina, was a young peasant woman who shortly thereafter married an artisan. for the highest price sold. Kenneth Griffin acquired it in 2004 from Wynn. Salvator Mundi, the long-lost Leonardo da Vinci painting of Jesus Christ commissioned by King Louis XII of France more than 500 years ago, has sold at Christies in New York for $450.3m, including auction house premium, shattering the world record for any work of art sold at auction. There is so much information in the public sphere that everyone can have the illusion of being an insider. The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci. DARREN WINSTON: Once we've decided that the book is worth looking at for its condition, for its provenance. She was universally considered to be the painter's sitter. She tells BBC Culture, "Since then, Dianne Modestini continued to work on it. According to the Christie's auction catalogue for the 1994 sale, the Codex was described as being in good and stable condition. This painting depicted St. Anne, her daughter the Virgin Mary, and the infant Jesus. Billionaires just live in a different world. Quiz: Ancient Illustrations Showing Us the Way, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leonardo-da-Vinci, Social Studies for Kids - Biography of Leonardo da Vinci, Humanities LibreTexts - Leonardo da Vinci, Art Encyclopedia - Biography of Leonardo Da Vinci, University of California Museum of Paleontology - Biography of Leonardo da Vinci, Web Gallery of Art - Biography of Leonardo da Vinci, Leonardo da Vinci - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Leonardo da Vinci - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up), Art and accomplishment: Leonardo as artist-scientist, Art and accomplishment: Painting and drawing.