Conflicts and contradictions associated with the found painting by Leonardo da Vinci. "Savior of the World" by Leonardo da Vinci sold for $ 450.3 million at Christie's Christ with Da Vinci Ball

The masterpiece "The Savior of the World" (a post about which I posted yesterday), aroused mistrust. And it seemed to me that I needed to tell a little about his fate, about what checks he passed, who sells it and why the sale is carried out by Christie's evening auction "Post-War and Contemporary Art" (post-war and contemporary art), and here is Charles II, that is, to answer the questions raised. But first, what makes this mellow, ethereal portrait of Jesus Christ a masterpiece.

Here are a few things to know about what makes a painting so special.

1. He has a glorious and confusing lineage.

Some experts believe that Leonardo originally wrote the work for the French royal family, and that Queen Henrietta Maria brought it with her to England when she married King Charles I in 1625. The work remained part of the royal family until 1763, and then disappeared for nearly 150 years. The masterpiece appeared when it entered the collection of Sir Friedrich Cook in Virginia around the turn of the 20th century and reappeared on the market in 1958 at an auction where a painting attributed to one of Leonardo's studio assistants was sold for a mere £ 45.

And again he disappeared from sight. Until 2005, when New York art dealer Alexander Parish bought it, too, for a bargain price of $ 10,000.

Then he and a consortium of dealers sold it to "free king" Yves Bouvier in a private Sotheby's sale for a cool $ 75- $ 80 million in 2013.
In the same year, Bouvier sold it for $ 127.5 million to Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, who is now putting it up for sale at Christie's.

2. He has been the subject of numerous lawsuits.

Rybolovlev sued Bouvier, because Bouvier acted on Rybolovlev's behalf (and presumably operated on him with funds), hid the real price and profited from the difference ($ 50 million) by fraud. The group of dealers who originally sold the work also threatened to sue Sotheby's for the difference between Bouvier's and Rybolovlev's price, while the auction seeks to isolate itself from any legal action, asking the court to clarify that it will not be held liable for any damages. incurred by sellers.
Another episode in the fate of the film, which continues to this day.

3. The painting was shattered.

When the restorers finally got their hands on it, the walnut panel was split and glued with plaster. Some crappy restorer had smeared it with something gray. It was even redrawn several times. "It was a wreck, dark and very dark."

4. The experts knew it was authentic.

Its inclusion in the landmark 2011-12 National Gallery exhibition - the most complete depiction of Leonardo's rare surviving paintings ever to exist - followed more than six years of painstaking research to confirm the painting's authenticity. The process began shortly after the painting - heavily veiled with recolouring, long mistaken for a copy - was discovered at a small regional auction in the United States. The painting was viewed by Mina Gregory (University of Florence) and Sir Nicholas Penny (Chief Curator of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, later director of the National Gallery, London).

The study and study of the painting by a group of international scholars has led to the widespread opinion that Salvator Mundi was painted by Leonardo da Vinci.

Dianne Dwyer Modestini, the restorer who restored the work in 2007, recalls the excitement after removing the first layers when she began to realize that the painting was a masterpiece. “My hands were shaking,” she says. "I was going home and didn't know if I was crazy."
“We could tell right away that this was da Vinci's work,” said art critic Pietro Marani in 2011.

Renaissance explorer Martin Kemp had goosebumps. “It was pretty clear,” Kemp said. Mona Lisa is present. So after that initial reaction, you look at the painting and you think that writing on better preserved details like hair, etc. is just incredibly good. It is such a supernatural whirlwind, as if the hair is a living, moving substance or water, as Leonardo wrote hair. "

5. This is "the equivalence of" Mona Lisa ""

Martin Kemp says, “because he is very soft. Above his left eye - on the right as we look at him - there are some of these marks that Leonardo made with his hand to soften the writing, and the face is very softly colored, which is typical of Leonardo after 1500.
“And what very much connects these later works of Leonardo is a sense of psychological movement, and a mystery, something not entirely known.
He attracts you, but does not give you answers. " This supernatural oddity is manifested in later paintings by Leonardo.

6. What does Karl have to do with it and who it belonged to

What is known for certain is that it belonged to King Charles I (1600-1649), this is recorded in the inventory of the royal collection, compiled a year after his execution. Nine years later, when Charles II was returned to the throne and his late father's property was revoked by an act of parliament, the painting was returned to the Crown. Inventory 1666 of Charles II's collection at Whitehall lists him among the King's chosen paintings.

7. Sphere - the ball of Christ

The ball of Christ is the emblem of the kingdom, as well as a symbol of the world itself. The tiny specks and inclusions that Leonardo painstakingly reproduced in the area indicate that it must be made of rock crystal, the purest form of quartz and was believed in the Renaissance to have immense magical powers. Crystals have been in reliquaries since the Middle Ages. Therefore, the very substance of the globe, as well as the perfection of its spherical shape, endow the ball with a wonderful essence.

“The beautiful sphere appears to contain and transmit light to the world,” notes Sison.
Leonardo had a noted interest in minerals that exhibit special optical properties. The artist himself wrote in a scientific treatise that light passing through "transparent bodies" produces "the same effect as between a shaded object and the light that falls on it."
Modestini notes the blotches in the sphere, “They strike under the microscope. Each of them was written out in a medium tone, black white and dark shade. They vary in size and location and differ from each other depending on the incidence of light. "

A powerful conclusive proof of Leonardo's authorship was the discovery of numerous pentimentos, such as the palm of the left hand visible through a transparent ball.

“… Leonardo's work is as influential in the art that is created today as it was in the 15th and 16th centuries. We felt that offering this painting in the context of our post-war and contemporary evening sale was a testament to the painting's enduring relevance. ”

But there is still quite a practical reason, far from assessing the role of painting in contemporary art. The fact is that the richest, most solvent people on the planet are going to the evening sales of contemporary art. Other topics do not collect so many billionaires who can arrange a real, evil bargaining for a masterpiece.

This is the information and assessment. As I understand it, there are skeptics who cannot be convinced. It is not surprising: the finds of masterpieces of such importance have always caused and will cause controversy, and this is good.

A detailed and complete article, materials from which were used,.

The painting of the great master of the Renaissance from the scandalous collection of billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev has officially become the most expensive work of art in the world

The picture caused a stir already at the Christie’s press conference on October 10, 2017. Photo: GettyImages

The painting, which dates from around 1500, became the most expensive item at Christie’s nightly contemporary and post-war art auction in New York on November 15. Moreover, $ 450.3 million is an absolute record price for a work of art sold at a public auction. The total revenue of the auction house, which also sold works by Andy Warhol, Cy Twombly, Mark Rothko and others, this evening, amounted to $ 789 million.

Bidding began with $ 90 million (it became known yesterday that Christie’s has a guaranteed rate from an absentee buyer who offered a little less than $ 100 million) and lasted for 20 minutes. The main applicants were 4 telephone buyers and 1 participant in the hall. In the end, the job went to a phone-bargaining client of Alex Rotter, head of Christie’s international contemporary art department. When the auctioneer Jussi Pilkkanen confirmed the sale of the painting for $ 400 million with the third blow of the hammer (taking into account the commission of the auction house, the price reached $ 450.3 million), the audience burst into applause.

Christie’s explained its decision to sell "The Savior of the World" at an auction of contemporary art by the incredible significance of the work. “A painting by the most important artist of all time, depicting an iconic figure for all of humanity. The opportunity to put up such a masterpiece for auction is a great honor and a chance that comes only once in a lifetime. Despite the fact that the work was written by Leonardo about 500 years ago, today it influences contemporary art no less than in the 15th and 16th centuries, ”said Loic Guser, chairman of Christie’s post-war and contemporary art department in New York.

The last work of Leonardo da Vinci, which is in a private collection, was decided to sell by the billionaire of Russian origin Dmitry Rybolovlev, whose name now constantly sounds in the news of the art world. Firstly, he is suing his art consultant, accusing him of fraud and claiming that he overpaid twice for the collection, and secondly, he is gradually selling this collection at auctions and privately, usually getting much less for the works than he paid. Now the turn has come to the "Savior of the World" by Leonardo da Vinci, who went under the hammer for more than three times more: the painting cost Rybolovlev $ 127.5 million, and he sold it for $ 450.3 million.

Remarkable are both the history of this painting, which was considered destroyed for a long time, and the scientific discussion devoted to its attribution. There are several facts indirectly proving that Leonardo painted Christ in the image of the Savior of the world at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries, that is, during his stay in Milan, most likely, by order of King Louis XII of France, who at that time controlled the north of Italy. Firstly, there is an engraving from 1650 made by Vaclav Hollar from the original by Leonardo da Vinci (as indicated by the engraver himself). The master's sketches have also survived - a drawing of the head of Christ, dating back to the 1480s, from the Atlantic Code of Leonardo (stored in the Ambrosian Library in Milan), as well as drapery sketches (stored in the Royal Library of Windsor Castle), compositionally coinciding with those depicted on the painting put up for auction, and with those in the engraving. There are also several close compositions by Leonardo's pupils with the same plot. However, the original was considered irretrievably lost.

The painting "Savior of the World" by Leonardo da Vinci was sold at Christie's post-war and contemporary art auction in New York on November 15, 2017 for $ 450.3 million. Photo: Christie's

The Savior of the World, now owned by Rybolovlev, was first documented in the collection of the British monarch Charles I: in the 17th century it was kept in the Royal Palace in Greenwich. The following testimony dates back to 1763, when the painting was sold by Charles Herbert Sheffield, the illegitimate son of the Duke of Buckingham. He sold off his father's legacy after he sold Buckingham Palace to the king. Then the picture disappears from sight for a long time, and its trace is re-discovered only in 1900, when "Savior of the World" as a work of a follower of Leonardo Bernardino Luini was acquired by Sir Charles Robinson, art consultant to Sir Francis Cook. So the work falls into the collection of Cook in Richmond. It is believed that by this time the work had already undergone an inept restoration, which was needed after the board split in two (in particular, the face of Christ was rewritten). In 1958, Sotheby's sells out the collection, a pretty rewritten depiction of Christ goes under the hammer for £ 45. This modest price is due to the fact that the work was attributed in the auction catalog as a late copy of a painting by the High Renaissance artist Giovanni Boltraffio.

In 2005, Savior of the World was acquired by a group of art dealers (including New York-based Old Master Robert Simon) as a Leonardesque piece for just $ 10,000 at a small American auction. In 2013, a consortium of dealers sold the painting to Yves Bouvier for $ 80 million, who almost immediately resold it to Dmitry Rybolovlev for $ 127.5 million.

It is assumed that it was the gallery owner and art critic Robert Simon who first saw Leonardo's hand in an unnamed work. On his initiative, the necessary research and consultations with experts were carried out. At the same time, the work was restored. Six years later - the sensational appearance of "The Savior of the World" as a genuine painting by Leonardo da Vinci himself at an exhibition, and even in one of the most reputable museums in the world, the National Gallery in London.

Curator of the exhibition “Leonardo da Vinci. Artist at the Milanese Court ”(November 2011 - February 2012) Luc Sison, at that time the curator of Italian painting until 1500 and head of the scientific department, warmly supported the authorship of Leonardo. The work was included in the exhibition catalog edited by the same Sison as a work of Leonardo from a private collection. The catalog emphasizes that the most preserved part of the image is Christ's fingers folded in a blessing gesture. Here, the most characteristic techniques of the Italian genius are noticeable, in particular, the numerous changes that the artist made already in the process of work. In addition, other details point to Leonardo: the intricate draperies of the tunic, the smallest air bubbles in a sphere of transparent quartz, as well as how the curly hair of Christ is painted.

According to the online publication ARTnews, the then director of the National Gallery, Nicholas Penny and Luke Sison, before deciding to include the work in the exhibition, invited four experts to see the painting: the curator of the painting and graphics department of the Metropolitan Museum of art Carmen Bambach, the leading restorer of the fresco "The Last Supper »In Milan by Pietro Marani, author of books on the history of the Renaissance, including biographies of Boltraffio, Maria Teresa Fiorio, and Honorary Professor of the University of Oxford Martin Kemp, who has devoted more than 40 years to the study of the legacy of Leonardo da Vinci. It seems that the work was accepted, but only Kemp spoke publicly in favor of attribution of Leonardo's "Savior of the World" in an interview with Artinfo in 2011. Answering the questions of the journalist, he notes a special feeling of “Leonardo's presence” that one feels when looking at his works - one feels it in front of the Mona Lisa and in front of the Savior of the World. In addition, the professor spoke about the stylistic features characteristic of the master's manner.

In fairness, it should be noted that the art history analysis was not limited to - meticulous technical and technological research was also carried out. The Savior of the World has been restored and studied by Professor Dianne Modestini, who heads the Samuel Henry Cress Painting Restoration Program at the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University. The results of her research were presented at the conference "Leonardo da Vinci: Latest Technological Discoveries" in February 2012 in New York. However, Modestini is actually the only one who had access to the data of technological research, and without them it is not entirely correct to speak about authorship.

The Italian expert on Leonardo Carlo Pedretti, who in 1982 oversaw the artist's exhibition in his hometown of Vinci, publicly opposed attribution of Leonardo's "Savior of the World" master. In addition, the Guardian cites a number of theses from Walter Isaac's biography of Leonardo da Vinci, published in October this year. He draws attention to the image of the ball in the hand of Christ, which is incorrect from the point of view of the laws of physics. The publication also cites the opinion of the University of Leipzig professor Frank Zellner (author of the 2009 monograph on Leonardo), who in a 2013 article called "The Savior of the World" a high-quality work of the workshop of Leonardo or his follower. However, this article in the Guardian has already become the subject of a lawsuit by Christie’s International.

Photos from open sources

Leonardo da Vinci's painting "Savior of the World" was recently bought for a record 450.3 million US dollars by an unknown collector, becoming the most expensive work of art in world history. (site)

The 500-year-old painting by the legendary Italian artist, considered lost for a long time, depicts Jesus Christ holding a strange glass ball in his left palm. Many experts believe that this is the so-called power (a common symbol of the power of the monarch), however, according to other experts, this is a completely different matter.

The most amazing thing, according to the researchers, is that the mysterious ball in the picture completely ignores the laws of refraction and reflection of light. Experts who study the life and work of da Vinci argue that the genius of the Renaissance, who was even called, could leave a riddle on this work of art that humanity has yet to solve.

Photos from open sources

American journalist and biographer Walter Isaacson explains that "The Savior of the World" was created by an Italian in 1500, when the famous artist was 48 years old. At the time, he was passionate about optics and physics. However, the glass artifact in the hand of the Son of God shows no light diffraction or hand reflection. Da Vinci, according to experts, could not have made such a mistake and left the ball looking unrealistic. It turns out that he missed such important details for him on purpose?

Maybe he showed in such a way that objects in the hands of Jesus Christ were capable of violating the known laws of physics? Or maybe it's all about the mystical properties of the artifact, and such a ball really exists? Finally, a theory will be put forward that behind a layer of paint in this part of the canvas there may be some hidden image - a message for posterity, which is why the painting was allegedly bought for such a fabulous price.

The strange detail of the painting may be related to its fabulous price.

The Savior of the World was put up for sale at Christie’s New York auction by Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev. The starting price of a masterpiece of art was $ 100 million. The auction lasted 20 minutes, after which an anonymous collector offered 450.3 million over the phone, and no one else dared to raise the price. It is striking that this small canvas measuring 64.5 by 44.7 centimeters was sold in the 1950s for just $ 45 when it was mistaken for a copy. Rybolovlev bought the painting from the Swiss Yves Bouvier in 2013 for 127 million, who himself bought it shortly before for 75 million. Thus, over the past 6-7 decades, the price of the mysterious painting has increased 10 million times.

It is quite possible that the main value of the mysterious painting by Leonardo da Vinci lies precisely in this mystical detail, and therefore the actual price of the "Savior of the World" could even be much higher than the one for which it was sold at auction today ...

The painting "Salvator Mundi" or "Savior of the World" - a 500-year-old work confidently attributed to Leonardo da Vinci - was sold on November 15, 2017 at Christie’s auction in New York for 450 million 312 thousand 500 dollars (including the premium). The image of Jesus Christ, which has already been dubbed "the male Mona Lisa", has become not only a record holder among paintings at public auctions, but also the most expensive painting on the planet, - says Vlad Maslov, a columnist for the Arthive art site. Today, only less than 20 paintings by the genius of the Renaissance are known, and "The Savior of the World" is the last one that remains in private hands. Others belong to museums and institutes.

Leonardo da Vinci. Savior of the World (Salvator Mundi). 1500, 65.7 × 45.7 cm

The work is called "the greatest artistic discovery" of the last century. Almost a thousand collectors, antique dealers, advisers, journalists and spectators gathered for the auction in the main auction room of Rockefeller Center. Several thousand more followed the sale live. The betting battle started at $ 100 million and lasted less than 20 minutes. After the price rose from $ 332 million in one step to $ 350 million, only two contenders fought the battle. The price of 450 million, announced by the buyer over the phone, has become final. At the moment, the identity of the new owner of the historical painting - including gender and even the region of residence - is kept secret.

The previous record in open auction was set by Pablo Picasso's painting "Algerian Women (version O)" - $ 179.4 million at Christie's sale in New York in 2015.

The highest price paid for the work of any of the old masters was paid at Sotheby's in 2002 - $ 76.7 million for "Beating the Babies" by Peter Paul Rubens. The painting is owned by a private collector, but exhibited at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto.

And the most expensive work of da Vinci himself was a drawing with a silver needle "Horse and Rider" - $ 11.5 million on sale in 2001.

Although the current owner of the "Savior of the World" is still incognito, the name of the seller is known. This is the billionaire of Russian origin Dmitry Rybolovlev - the chef of the football club AS Monaco. While researching the provenance, experts were able to find out that the "Savior of the World" was sold in 1958 as an alleged copy for only 45 pounds sterling ($ 60 at current prices). After that, he disappeared for decades and reappeared at the US regional auction in 2005 without attribution. Presumably the price was less than $ 10,000. In 2011, after years of research and restoration, the painting appeared at an exhibition at the National Gallery in London, which finally secured the authorship of Leonardo da Vinci.

In 2007 - 2010, the Savior of the World was restored by Diana Modestini from New York. “The crudely superimposed and distorting later layers were removed, and the damaged fragments were carefully and meticulously restored,” Christie’s experts write, adding that such losses “are expected in most paintings over 500 years old”.

Today the record of the auction was broken, for the painting by Leonardo da Vinci "Savior of the World" the unknown paid almost half a billion dollars. The drawing is a blatant "bullshit". And against this background, the question naturally arises: why did they give so much real money for this masterpiece, moreover, possibly also fake?

The main thing is that the picture is fake ... And this follows from the historical context of its "writing".

For the reasons for buying a painting for such a high price and what exactly this painting means, see the video:

First, a little working information - for those who like to count other people's money. According to The New York Times, the painting was sold by the trust fund of Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, who acquired it in 2013 for $ 127.5 million.

And now the painting by Leonardo da Vinci "Salvator Mundi" was bought at Christie's in New York for $ 450.3 million. The name of the new owner of Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece has not been disclosed.

So this is what is shown in the picture? "Salvator Mundi" does not mean "Savior of the world" at all. This is, let's say, a tactless free translation.

The correct translation is as follows. "Salvator" translates as "vase, vessel, salad bowl, bowl", etc. This is the designation of the vessel in which the World is placed. "Salvator" is the image of the religious ark. The single root word "Salvator" is "shalanda", "salt shaker", "salon", "hall", etc.

The word "Mundi" also does not mean Peace at all (you see for yourself, the root is not the same). Here are a few words of the same root: Hebrew ~ manol - "castle"; Quenya mundo - "bull" (rather, two-horned); Est. muna, muhk - "bump"; catalan. munt, isp. montón - "heap";

lat. mundus - "clean".

The meaning of the word "Mundi" is that it means the mythological mountain Mir (in the Indian tradition - Meru). It is the mountain called "World", and not the world itself as such. Outside of this mountain there is still a huge amount of lands and territories, which are also included in the generalizing concept of "peace".

The full translation of the phrase "Salvator Mundi" means "Ark by the Mountain". This is the most traditional image of all the mythologies of the world, as well as religions. The most ancient image of such an ark near such a mountain is the constellation of the Southern sky of Korm. She is the remnant of the very ark on which the ancient, still pre-biblical, messiah crossed from the Northern Heaven to the Southern Heaven.

Christianity as a religion is built on pagan myths and Russian fairy tales. This significant event - the invention of Christianity - took place in the 19th century. The authors are Masons. The first Bible came out at the very end of the 19th century. Its second edition is at the end of the 20th century.

The basis of the plot about Jesus Christ is set forth in the Russian fairy tale "At the Command of the Pike." In it, the king seals the mother and child in a barrel (ark) and throws it into the sea. This ark, with a woman and a man on board, moors to the magical island of Buyan. The same plot was repeated in his fairy tale by Alexander Pushkin "The Tale of Tsar Saltan".

The name Saltan is used in the word "Salvator".

As I said in my video, Jesus Christ is exactly the ark that contains both the female part and the male part at the same time. Therefore, in the painting by Leonardo da Vinci, the upper, male part of the picture is the face of a man, and the lower, female part is the woman's chest and body.

Leonardo portrayed Jesus Christ as a single ark bearing female and male sexual characteristics. This belief, by the way, is the origin of the European disease of society, where gays and lesbians breed with a lesion of the brain of believers. This is a mental religious illness.

And one more detail. The name "Jesus Christ" is translated as "Woman Man", or in the Russian tradition - "Yaga Veles", in the English - the name "GenRikh", in the total tradition "America Russia", in the geographical one - "Antarctica Arctic", etc. All translations are equivalent: bottom - female, top - male.

In the painting by Leonardo da Vinci, Jesus Christ is holding a spherical model of the Earth. It is made in the form of a glass ball. Why glass? This is done in order to show that the depicted earth model is spherical, and it has not only a circle in the front plane, but also a spherical depth.

What do experts say about this? They say this masterpiece is from the royal collection. There are a lot of details here. Which, however, anyone can compose. Here are the sentimental details:

« As noted by the expert on the work of Leonardo da Vinci, Luc Seison, the painting may have been written for the French royal house and came to England after Charles I married the French princess Henrietta Maria in 1625. At the same time, the master Vaclav Hollar, apparently by order of the Queen, made an engraving from the canvas.

The painting was listed in the register of the royal collection, compiled a year after the execution of Charles I in 1649, then was sold at auction in 1651 and by 1666 returned to the royal collection under Charles II. According to some reports, she was in the personal office of the king. After 1763, traces of the painting are lost, until it was acquired in 1900 in a badly damaged state for a private collection.

In 2007, the painting was restored at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. The following year, a group of internationally recognized experts on the work of Leonardo da Vinci studied the canvas at the National Gallery in London and compared the painting style with another famous work of the master, Madonna of the Rocks.

According to one group of experts, "Savior of the World" refers to the end of the Milanese period of Leonardo da Vinci's work in the 1490s, when the master wrote the famous "Last Supper". Another group of experts believes that the painting was painted somewhat later, in the 1500s, during the Florentine period of Leonardo da Vinci's work.", Http://tass.ru/kultura/4733122.

Leonardo da Vinci was born in 1452 and died in 1519. The first work on the heliocentric system was published by Nicolaus Copernicus only in 1543, he published his work on the heliocentric system - "On the rotation of the celestial spheres." After that, it took several more decades and centuries before the Earth, in the minds of scientists, took a spherical shape.

Even Nicolaus Copernicus himself is depicted in the same perspective as the character in an expensive painting. But Copernicus holds in his left hand a flat model of the World, and Jesus Christ holds a spherical one. Turning the passage of time inside out.

As for the universe in general, even today it is a flat circle, and not at all a sphere.

Thus, Leonardo da Vinci could not depict what no one knew anything about in his time. It is, of course, tempting to be deceived by genius and providence. But fact is fact. The Spherical Earth became traditional only in the 18th - 19th centuries.

The date of the painting "Salvator Mundi", that is, "The Ark by the Mountain", is a canvas of the 17th-19th centuries. And, of course, a fake.

Andrey Tyunyaev, editor-in-chief of the President newspaper