A painting of Jesus Christ by Leonardo da Vinci is heading to the auction block ? where it could sell for around $100 million.
Leonardo’s haunting “Salvator Mundi” dates from about 1500, roughly the same time frame as the artist’s famous “Mona Lisa.” Long believed to have been destroyed, it is now one of fewer than 20 paintings known to have been created by the master Renaissance artist, according to Christie’s.
Alan Wintermute, a specialist at Christie’s, called the “Salvator Mundi” the “Holy Grail of old master paintings.”
“Long-known to have existed, and long-sought after, it seemed just a tantalizingly unobtainable dream until now,” Wintermute said in a statement. “To see a fully finished, late masterpiece by Leonardo, made at the peak of his genius, appear for sale in 2017 is as close as I’ve come to an Art World Miracle.”
The painting will be displayed in exhibitions in Hong Kong, San Francisco, London and New York before going on sale at Christie’s in New York on November 15.
