Soon after Saudi Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan al-Saud bought Leonardo Da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, people started questioning its authenticity.

Go here for the resultant petty social media battle about painting conservation.

Fast forward to the present, and the painting is back in the news, reigniting the authenticity dispute.

Salvator Mundi won’t be included in this year’s big Leonardo da Vinci show in Paris because curators at the Louvre do not believe it can be attributed solely to the artist.

Here’s The Guardian:

The art historian and writer Ben Lewis has charted the remarkable story of a painting which made headlines all over the world when it sold for $450m (£354m) at Christie’s in New York in 2017.

Some of the world’s leading Leonardo experts, including Martin Kemp, emeritus professor of art history at Oxford, insist it is genuinely the lost work of the master. Others are more circumspect or dismissive.

The painting was due to be lent to the Louvre for the show which marks the 500th anniversary of Da Vinci’s death.

“My inside sources at the Louvre, various sources, tell me that not many curators think this picture is an autograph Leonardo da Vinci.

“If they did exhibit it … they would want to exhibit it as ‘workshop’.

“If that’s the case, it will be very unlikely that it will be shown, because the owner can’t possibly lend it … the value will go down to somewhere north of $1.5m (£1.2m).”

…Since its sale there has been silence. Mystery surrounds its whereabouts, although Lewis is convinced that it is in high-security storage in a freeport in Switzerland.

Lewis describes it as “the painting that dare not show its face”.

For the sake of his investment, which was a very sizeable one, Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan al-Saud is happy to keep everyone guessing.

Sure wouldn’t be a good look if he whipped it out and everyone cried fake.

[source:guardian]