Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi” sold for 450 million dollars

“Salvator Mundi”, one of Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpieces, was recently sold for the record price of 450 million dollars. Even though there are no specifics about the identity of the buyer, some dealers say they are likely to be Americans, while other suggest that only someone from China or Middle East would agree to pay such an astronomical amount of money for a work of art by the Italian master of masters.

Speculations also suggest that the buyer might be billionaire Ken Griffin, who also purchased a de Kooning and Jackson Pollock for a combined 500 million dollar amount. Some others believe the buyer might be Alice Walton, the Wal-Mart heiress famous for having spent hundreds of millions to fund the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas. But again, nothing is certain.

Anyway, “Salvator Mundi” has definitely created one of the most amazing records of all times, and not only an epic guessing game. Yet the question remains unanswered: who would pay so much for a painting, albeit from Leonardo da Vinci?

Not a word from Christie, which sold the work last week: of course, the company is bound by the usual confidentiality agreements and the CEO, Guillaume Cerutti, has been more than clear about the matter.

“We do not comment on the identities of the buyers. The bids came from every part of the world”. And whoever got the painting, set a record for any artwork and – by the way! – also included a 50 million dollars in buyer fees.