SIMON: It's a truly horrific prospect. And that's the number we're using to value it. "A Botticelli Portrait Sells for $92 Million at Sotheby's Auction", "Christie's 'Secret Weapon' in Rockefeller's 'Sale of the Century' | Auctions News | THE VALUE | Art News", "Claude Monet (18401926), Nymphas en fleur", Greatest German Renaissance Madonna sold by prince, Vincent van Gogh (18531890) Laboureur dans un champ, U.K. Buys Titian Diana Painting for 50 Million Pounds, Titian deal paves way for next acquisition, "Mark Rothko: No. But one key difference between my version and the one Bill Gates owns is that while my version is bound in the middle, like any typical hardcover book, every page of the original Codex Leicester is held in glass to make it easier to view all the pages. ", Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi was sold by Christie's in 2017 for a record-breaking $450 million (Credit: Photo by Ilya S Savenok/Getty Images for Christie's Auction House). We know quite a bit about Leonardo's life from a mini-biography by Giorgio Vasari, a Leonardo fanboy and the world's first art historian.Born a nobody, Leonardo was a charismatic and complicated man self confident and not, driven and not, distracted and not. Kenneth Griffin acquired it in 2004 from Wynn. In this episode, we're taking you inside the world of rare books, manuscripts, and Old Masters works to tell you about how we've estimated the value of one very special notebook, with ties to the world's most expensive painting ever sold at auction: the Salvator Mundi. For this notebook, we considered values ranging from $50 million, all the way up to $4 billion. [6] Another example is a 2019 sale of The Seated Zouave by Vincent van Gogh. MICHELA TINDERA: So its 1994, and were listening to an auction in a salesroom at Christie's in Manhattan. He applied his creativity to every realm in which graphic representation is used: he was a painter, sculptor, architect, and engineer. Since the museums rarely sell them, they are considered priceless. This list is ordered by consumer price index inflation-adjusted value (in bold) in millions of United States dollars in 2021. Soon, the painting was on its way to Christie's. Amidst all these delightfully tangled histories, nothing rivals the Salvator Mundi. Two of his most important worksthe Battle of Anghiari and the Leda, neither of them completedhave survived only in copies. Leonardo da Vinci - Paintings, Inventions & Quotes - Biography Leonardo da Vincis total output in painting is really rather small; there are less than 20 surviving paintings that can be definitely attributed to him, and several of them are unfinished. It's worth at least what Gates paid for it. Leonardo devoted 12 yearswith interruptionsto this task. If all we do is adjust the $30.8 million that Gates paid for it for inflation, that gets us to somewhere around $50 million today. "And it is involved therefore in the politics around culture. 31 of the Most Expensive Paintings Ever Sold at Auction Amid all of that the Codex went back to Christie's in 1994, where it was once again expected to bring $10 million. He also pulled together a list of artwork that he found it to be similar to. For example, on June 25, 2019, the American hedge fund manager J. Tomilson Hill bought a recently rediscovered Judith and Holofernes (1607) attributed to Caravaggio, two days before it would have been auctioned in Toulouse. Leonardo da Vinci | Biography, Art, Paintings, Mona Lisa, Drawings No one in the art world knows for sure where the painting is. Some of the most eye-opening commentary in both films isn't even about art. This time, though, it sold for three times that in the battle we heard about at the beginning of the episode between Gates and the Italian bank. It's with you at $28 million. When it sold in 1994, it was also expected to sell for $10 million, but ended up selling for three times that. So Gates buying Leonardo da Vinci's notebook is the equivalent of a typical 66-year-old splurging ona new iPad. And if you liked this story,sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter, called The Essential List. But as it turned out, he also had his own personal connection to the Codex. Where is the world's most expensive painting? - BBC Culture Leonardo da Vinci Paintings This wall painting in the Dominican monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan, allowed Leonardo to explore how the body communicates inner states of being. This episode was reported by Michela Tindera, produced by Michela Tindera and Jonathan Palmer, with additional research by Sue Radlauer. ARCHIVAL CLIP OF ARMAND HAMMER: I guess I'm wearing a great many hats. PETERSON-WITHORN: Yeah, and Gates loves books. Twenty-eight million dollars, then. Art restorer Dianne Modestini in a scene from The Lost Leonardo, one of two new documentaries about the Salvator Mundi (Credit: Sony Pictures Classics/Entertainment Pictures). Most observers agree that it is likely stashed in the Middle East, but some have speculated that it is stored in a tax-free zone in Geneva or even on the Prince's half-a-billion-dollar yacht. TINDERA: I'm Michela Tindera, and this is Priceless. Nonetheless, the exhibition went a long way toward legitimising a shaky attribution. Renaissance artist, inventor, polymath, musician, and architect who painted the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper and drew the iconic Vitruvian Man. Previewing the lot last month, Christies described the painting of Christ holding a crystal orb in his left hand and raising his right in benediction as the biggest discovery of the 21st century. And to put into perspective, how much less art sold for 40 years ago, the sale of the Codex was the fifth-highest price for any piece of art sold at auction ever. The auction house would not reveal the identity of the buyer or even the region from which they came. TINDERA: Slicing up and selling off a beautiful manuscript or book is not without precedent, though, Robert explained to us. When Leonardo was about 15, his father, who enjoyed a high reputation in the Florentine community, apprenticed him to artist Andrea del Verrocchio. Record private sales are believed to include $250m for a painting by Paul Czanne and $300m for a Paul Gauguin. The Louvre and the National Gallery refused to comment for either film. Portrait of Ginevra de' Benci by Leonardo da Vinci. TINDERA: Gates is up against a group from a bank in Milan thats sitting in the front of the Christie's salesroom. A Leonardo da Vinci the Size of a Post-it Sells for $12.2 Million The documentary covers much of the same ground as The Lost Leonardo, but less stylishly, with too many stock establishing shots of cities. But now the Salvator Mundi has become the poster boy for the volatile mix of money, power and geopolitics that defines the art world today. A tempera and oil mural on plaster, "The Last Supper" was created for the refectory . So, I think we could legitimately set the floor at that price. Probably, they knew there was room before the end of the competition., They wanted to get the job done quicker, but it still took a long time.. The winning bidder would later be revealed to be Saudi Arabia's Prince. TINDERA: Hammer is also the great-grandfather of Hollywood actor Armie Hammer. A jump to $400m. Billionaires just live in a different world. Twenty-eight million. Yves Bouvier, a Swiss art dealer, bought the painting from the New York dealers for $83 million, reportedly on behalf of his client, a Russian oligarch named Dmitry Rybolovlev, though this is disputed by Mr Bouvier. This painting depicted St. Anne, her daughter the Virgin Mary, and the infant Jesus. It came close. - The world's greatest art detective, - The men who Leonardo da Vinci loved, - The detail that unlocks the Mona Lisa. I wana write a poem about it. [3] How many Leonardo da Vinci paintings are there? However, other critics have disagreed with the truth of that claim. Re-sold for 12m to Stavros Niarchos in 1993. (crowd laughs) Good start. Also of note is the decorative ceiling painting (1498) he made for the Sala delle Asse in the Milan Castello Sforzesco. When Bill Gates bought the manuscript, rather than naming it the Codex Gates after himself, he decided to rename it the Codex Leicester after an earlier owner. Leonardo da Vinci painting sells for $450m at auction, smashing records That's why these valuations can be so tricky. But many experts think she did a drastic over-restoration. The current record price is approximately US$450.3 million (which includes commission), paid for Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi (c.1500). There's also something called primacy, which is being the first. The Virgin and Child with St Anne was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci in 1510. 1. In fact, it was also noted in the Codexs 1994 auction catalogue written by late da Vinci scholar Carlo Pedretti, that the Mona Lisa is, "indeed a visual synthesis of Leonardo's scientific knowledge as summed up in the Codex.". Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. The image of Christ as The Saviour of the World was billed as The Last da Vinci at Christie's 2017 auction, where it sold for a record $450 million (342 million) to a proxy for bin Salman (yes, that bin Salman, whom the CIA found responsible for ordering the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi). Because at the end of the day, it's an entertaining story.". Leonardos artistic inclinations must have appeared early. The rest are owned by museums around the world. Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo da Vinci. According to the provenance in the auction catalogue, a few Italian artists own the Codex after da Vinci's death, including a painter named Giuseppe Ghezzi, who apparently sold it in 1717 to Thomas Coke, a man who eventually became England's Earl of Leicester. TINDERA: That's Gates talking for a video posted on his blog a few years ago, around the time that he exhibited the Codex Leicester in some museums in Europe. Privately resold for ca. On July 12, 2011, $75M was equivalent to 53M. One of two pastel versions; another two painted versions (and lithography) exist, all created by Munch. PETERSON-WITHORN: After the auction, he told the press, I'm very happy with the price. She is a captivating, elegant presence on screen, with a whispery voice and wide eyes behind signature black or red-framed glasses. Rybolovlev resold Gauguin's Otahi before 2017 for less than $50 million. At an auction held at Christie's New York in 2016 during a contemporary art event, Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci turned into the most expensive painting ever sold, selling for $450 million at the end of a nineteen-minute bidding war. Pierre-Auguste Renoir "Bal du moulin de la Galette" (1876): $154.7 million 6. So if Saudi Arabia decides that culture is going to be the way it opens up and the Salvator Mundi is going to be a key player in that strategy and the Louvre is offering to exhibit it, then all those things are tied up together.". Leonardo spent 17 years in Milan, until Ludovicos fall from power in 1499. He was also frequently consulted as a technical adviser in the fields of architecture, fortifications, and military matters, and he served as a hydraulic and mechanical engineer. The US art critic Jerry Saltz rails in The Lost Leonardo that "it's not even a good painting", much less a great Leonardo, while true believers gush that seeing it in person is a transcendent experience. The work, thought to be a 500-year-old portait of Madonna and child, is potentially worth over $150 million (100 million) if experts are able to prove its authenticity. PETERSON-WITHORN: And the fifth was a drawing by Michelangelo called The Holy Family with the Infant St. John the Baptist, which also sold to the Getty Museum in 1993, for $6.3 million. The saleroom erupted in cheers and applause. It was first unveiled to the public at the National Gallery in London in 2011. Five are traditional Chinese paintings by Qi Baishi, Wu Bin, Wang Meng and Xu Yang. Explore the life of Italian painter, architect, engineer, and humanist Leonardo da Vinci. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Antique Heliogravure on wove paper after t.. 620: 1893 Leonardo da Vinci Bust of an Old Man in Roman Costume print signed Est: $ 500 - $ 700 View sold prices Feb. 05, 2023 KCM Galleries Cape Coral, FL, US Cole was the first to report, in March 2020, the existence of a 46-page booklet the Louvre prepared for publication but never released, which asserts that the piece is an authentic Leonardo. TINDERA: I'm looking through a copy of whats now called the Codex Leicester, which I purchased online for about $30. What was Leonardo da Vincis personality like? Corrections? $450 million - Celebrity Net Worth The only non-Western modern artwork listed is that of the Chinese-French painter Zao Wouki's oil painting Juin-Octobre 1985, which was sold for $65 million in 2018. Bouviers mark-up led to Rybolovlevs criminal complaint in a Mongasque court, alleging a scheme for overcharging him. In 1472 Leonardo was accepted into the painters guild of Florence, but he remained in his teachers workshop for five more years, after which time he worked independently in Florence until 1481. The Christie's sale itself was a highly staged drama, beginning with a marketing video that showed not the painting but the faces of observers most are ordinary people but one of them is Leonardo DiCaprio looking reverently at the image as if they were seeing Christ himself. His curiosity and insatiable hunger for knowledge never left him. July 8, 2021. Leonardo da Vinci. Its the last painting by Leonardo, the greatest of all Renaissance artists, and it had an appeal to collectors from all parts of the world., Every major scholar of Leonardos work accepts the picture and has for the past decade, he said, addressing questions over the paintings authenticity and condition, adding: Its not in flawless condition, its 500 years old and absolutely has the presence and condition of a true Leonardo.. He had just gotten married to Melinda Gates on New Year's Day of that year and was in the middle of building his multi-million-dollar mega mansion, Xanadu 2.0. Leonardo grew up on his fathers familys estate, where he was treated as a legitimate son and received the usual elementary education of that day: reading, writing, and arithmetic. Antoine Vitkine's film Saviour for Sale is most notable for some explosive additions about what might have happened behind the scenes at the Louvre. SIMON: The Codex is something that for most of the year, let's say you have to keep it under lock and key and out of the light. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. ", https://www.telegraph.co.uk/luxury/art/art-sales-russian-buyers-inject-confidence-into-old-master-marke/, Picasso piece sets record for art sold at auction, qatar may have purchased Warhol's 'Eight Elvises', "Nahmads confirm Picasso's $115m flower girl will go to Paris", "Rockefeller Picasso sells for $115 million including feesauthor=Robert Frank", "DIC Sells 'Anna's Light' Painting For Y10.3bn Gain", "Regarding extraordinary profit associated with the sale of a certain painting owned by the company and revision of its consolidated operating result forecast", "How Basquiat Became the $60 Million Man", "A Basquiat Sells for 'Mind-Blowing' $110.5 Million at Auction", A Monet Sells for $110.7 Million, an Auction High for an Impressionist Work, "Qatar bought Ford House's $100-million Cezanne", "$100M for Czanne painting? Taking inflation into account, the 1962 value would be around US$900 million in 2021.[3]. During this period Leonardo worked on a grandiose sculptural project that seems to have been the real reason he was invited to Milan: a monumental equestrian statue in bronze to be erected in honour of Francesco Sforza, the founder of the Sforza dynasty. Leonardo Da Vinci 1503 It was kept it at the Palace at Fontainebleau, where it remained until King Louis XIV moved the painting to the Palace of Versailles. PETERSON-WITHORN: Armand placed the winning bid and paid about $5.6 million for the Codex, which was less than the roughly $10 million that it was reported experts thought it might sell for. Leonardo da Vinci Biography, Paintings, Family, Early Life The final winning bid? The first question we're asking, but we're going to ask it again is, What are we actually looking at? If it's a first edition of Moby Dick, that's a great thing to have. We asked Robert, if the Codex if it went up for sale again, could it compete with the Mundi's price? A lost painting by Leonardo da Vinci may have been found in a Scottish farmhouse, reported The Daily Mail. TINDERA: Ultimately, in his appraisal, which Simon submitted in December 1993. Lost Leonardo Da Vinci Painting Worth 100 Million May Have - HuffPost CBS CLIP, BILL GATES: Well, that's simply based on taking the stock I own in Microsoft and doing some type of multiplication. Despite the excitement over the sale of the only Leonardo in private hands queues of people had formed around Rockefeller Center in New York to see the canvas many in the art world had wondered if the piece would find a buyer. The inflation adjustment may change as recent inflation rates are often revised. Leonardo da Vincis parents were unmarried at the time of his birth near a small village named Vinci in Tuscany. When he was about 15, his father, who enjoyed a high reputation in the Florence community, apprenticed him to artist Andrea del Verrocchio. MASSEY: Still with me then at five-million five hundred thousand, five-million eight hundred thousand, five-million eight hundred thousand. Since the painting first arrived at the Louvre in 1815, "Mona Lisa" has received plenty of love letters and flowers from admirers. A jump to $370. Son of Daniel (conductor & cellist) and Eleanore Saidenberg who were Picasso's New York dealers from 1955 to 1973. In November 2017 Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman paid $450 million for a da Vinci painting. An attempt to psychoanalyze the buyer of Leonardo da Vinci's 'Salvator Mundi.' Tim Schneider , November 17, 2017 The scene at Christie's New York on November 15. He said that he would guess that if the Codex were to go up for auction again, the auction estimate for the item might be $150 million. He had an exceedingly inquisitive mind and made strenuous efforts to become erudite in languages, natural science, mathematics, philosophy, and history, among other subjects. Leonardo da Vinci - 205 artworks - painting - WikiArt They brought it to Dianne Modestini, a highly respected restorer, who removed decades of grime and overpainting, and was the first to suspect it might be a true Leonardo. The Salvator Mundi can be exhibited, and if it goes to a museum in Saudi Arabia, and people travel there and go to see it, I mean, it would have in terms of that income value I was talking about, it would have, you know, a phenomenal one, you know, perhaps quite in excess of the $450 million that it brought at auction. Two new documentaries delve into the ongoing saga of Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi in a moment when true art crime stories are at their peak, writes Caryn James.