Shock 1: $450 million for a painting. World record shocks many.
Shock 2: Portrait of Jesus as Saviour of The World, bought by Saudi Arabia, stalwarts of Muslim conservatism.
On 15 November 2017, this modest but enigmatic portrait by Leonardo da Vinci was auctioned for a massive $450.3 million setting a new world record. The painting will be loaned to The Louvre in Abu Dhabi. The painting is titled “Salvator Mundi”, or in English “Saviour of the World”. A mysterious Jesus is blessing the viewer with his right hand and in his left, is a transparent globe, representing the cosmos. Just the thing you’d expect a Saudi Arabian prince to buy?