In 2005 two New York dealers bought a battered, overpainted picture of Christ at a small auction in New Orleans for about $1,175. Twelve years later the same panel sold at Christie’s for $450.3 million — the most ever paid for a painting at auction. Salvator Mundi, “Saviour of the World”, is now catalogued by its sellers as Leonardo da Vinci. Whether it is entirely his, partly his, or mostly his workshop’s is still argued over, and that argument is the best lesson in attribution the art world has produced.
A sleeper, then a restoration
Dealers call a misattributed work bought cheaply a sleeper. This one had been heavily overpainted and badly damaged, its walnut panel split. The buyers, Robert Simon and Alexander Parish, had it cleaned and restored by the conservator Dianne Modestini, and as the later paint came away, details emerged — the curls of hair, the hand raised in blessing, a pentimento where the thumb had been moved — that convinced several specialists they were looking at Leonardo’s own work.
From London to the record books
In 2011 the National Gallery in London exhibited the painting as a Leonardo in its exhibition of his years in Milan, a remarkable endorsement for a newly rediscovered work. It was sold privately in 2013 for about $80 million, and then on to a Russian collector for about $127.5 million, a mark-up that led to years of litigation. On 15 November 2017, Christie’s in New York sold it again — after an unusual marketing campaign for an Old Master — for $450.3 million including fees.
The same panel was worth roughly a thousand dollars as a damaged copy and four hundred and fifty million as a Leonardo. Nothing about the wood or the paint changed — only the name.
Why scholars still disagree
- How much is Leonardo? Several Leonardo specialists accept the painting as his; others think his workshop painted much of it, with the master contributing parts, or that it is a high-quality workshop version of a lost original. Other versions of the composition by his followers exist.
- How much is restoration? The surface was so damaged that a significant part of what you see today is the restorer’s work. Critics argue that makes a confident attribution impossible.
- The glass orb. Christ holds a solid crystal sphere, yet the drapery behind it isn’t distorted the way real optics would bend it — odd for an artist who studied light obsessively, though not proof either way.
- Provenance gaps. A Salvator Mundi by Leonardo is recorded in the collection of Charles I of England, but tying this panel to that record across centuries of missing history is debated.
Where is it now?
Since the sale the painting has hardly been seen. It was not shown in the Louvre’s large Leonardo exhibition in 2019, and its whereabouts have been the subject of continual reporting and speculation. For the most expensive painting ever sold, it remains one of the least visible.
- Attributed to
- Leonardo da Vinci (disputed)
- Date
- About 1500
- Medium
- Oil on walnut panel
- Size
- About 66 × 45 cm
- Bought in 2005
- About $1,175, New Orleans
- Sold in 2017
- $450.3 million, Christie’s New York
Hoping for a sleeper of your own? Art Scan: Painting Identifier suggests the likely artist, period and style from one photo — a fast first read on a picture at a sale. A real attribution, as this story shows, takes specialists, technical analysis and documents.
The takeaway
Salvator Mundi is a case study in everything that decides a painting’s price: the name on the label, the certainty behind it, the condition under the restoration, and the paper trail. Read how auction houses express those levels of certainty in art attribution terms, and why ownership history matters in art provenance explained.
At a glance
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Attributed to | Leonardo da Vinci (disputed) |
| Date | About 1500 |
| Medium | Oil on walnut panel |
| Size | About 66 × 45 cm |
| Bought in 2005 | About $1,175, New Orleans |
| Sold in 2017 | $450.3 million, Christie’s New York |
Frequently asked questions
Is Salvator Mundi really by Leonardo?
Some leading specialists accept it; others believe his workshop painted much of it or that heavy restoration makes a firm attribution impossible. The debate continues.
Why was Salvator Mundi so expensive?
It was sold as one of fewer than twenty accepted Leonardo paintings and the only one in private hands, after a marketing campaign unusual for an Old Master.
Where is Salvator Mundi now?
It has rarely if ever been publicly seen since the 2017 sale and was not shown in the Louvre’s 2019 Leonardo exhibition.
What is a sleeper in the art market?
A work sold cheaply under a modest or wrong attribution that turns out to be by a major artist.
Sources and further reading
- Salvator Mundi (Leonardo) — Wikipedia
Links checked October 4, 2026.
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