
Salvator Mundi
Salvator Mundi
- Salvator Mundi
- c. 1490-1519
- Oil on walnut
- 45.4 cm × 65.6 cm (25.8 in × 17.9 in)
- Private collection, New York City
Is a painting attributed to Leonardo da Vinci in 2005 that was painted for Louis XII of France between 1506 and 1513. It is titled "Salvator Mundi" or "Savior of the world" because it is a 'iconography' that shows Christ with his right hand raised and his left hand holding an orb.
- It was previously owned by Charles I of England in 1649.
- Then auctioned in 1763 by the Duke of Buckingham and Normanby.
- It's next documented in 1900 when Sir Frederick Cook bought it.
- Then his descendants sold it at an auction in 1958 for only around 45$.
- THEN it was found by the Us Consortium of art dealers in 2005 and authenticated as being painted by Leonardo.
In the links to the right you can read my blog posts about this painting. In my book I had originally used the Bernardino Luini version as a reference to the Shroud of Turin. The faces were similar enough that I thought they were intentionally meant as a clue to relate the two. Since the version I was working with was by Lunini and not Leonardo it was a more loose correlation. I also hadn't yet realized that Luini worked with Leonardo and didn't know that his version was based off of a( yet-unknown to me) da Vinci original. That was until the Leonardo version was authenticated years after that version of my book was written. Whew, it was confusing at the time as you can tell from my blog posts about it.
As I understand it now Leonardo painted the "Salvator Mundi" around 1506 and his collaborator Bernardino Luini also made a version (Potentially a copy.) Luini's version stuck around and I had read about it and included it in an older version of my book. Leonardo's version was essentially "Lost" and no re-discovered, re-authenticated, and re-stored until recently.