Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait of Christ “Salvator Mundi” sold for a record-smashing $450.3 million on Wednesday at Christie’s in New York It was the last da Vinci left in private hands and fetched more than four times the Christie’s pre-sale estimate of about $100 million.
The price was more than twice the old record for any work of art, set by Picasso’s “Les Femmes D’Alger,” which sold for $179.4 million in May 2015.
“Salvator Mundi” (Saviour of the World) was purchased by an unidentified buyer bidding via telephone after a protracted bidding war that stretched to nearly 20 minutes at the New York auction house.
The restored portrait, an ethereal depiction of Jesus Christ which dates to about 1500, is one of fewer than 20 paintings by the Renaissance artist known to still exist.
