Portrait of Ginevra de' Benci by Leonardo da Vinci. Then we look at the condition, and we base the condition on what's in our hands, and how you look at a book thats 150, 170 years old. Still, it was a record-breaking event. At one point, a telephone bidder jumped in, pushing the price from $332m to $350m. According to the Christie's auction catalogue for the 1994 sale, the Codex was described as being in good and stable condition. And how does that help us come up with a number for today? His drawing of the Vitruvian Man (c. 1490) has also become a cultural icon. So, they decided to hold an auction through Christie's, and it took place in London in December 1980. But just weeks before the auction happened, a devastating earthquake struck Italy and the government ended up skipping the sale. CBS CLIP, BILL GATES: Well, that's simply based on taking the stock I own in Microsoft and doing some type of multiplication. In particular, Qi Baishi's Twelve Landscape Screens was sold for $140.8 million in 2017. Later in 2002, Thomson donated his private collection, including the Rubens, to the. Top 10 most expensive works of art sold at auction - in pictures, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, Moment Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi sells for record-breaking $400m - video, Salvator Mundi painting by Leonardo Da Vinci before and after restoration, Leonardo's Vitruvian Man can go to the Louvre, court rules, Leonardo and Raphael art swap marks end of France-Italy spat, Short of imagination: Germaine Greer scorns Leonardo da Vincis art, Leonardo da Vinci events marred by Italy and France row, Rare Leonardo da Vinci notebook to go on show at British Library, World's most expensive painting is authentic Leonardo, insists expert, Louvre Abu Dhabi postpones display of Leonardo's Salvator Mundi, Leonardo scholar challenges attribution of $450m painting, Leonardo's earliest surviving work? He created something he called the Codescope, which was software built to help museum-goers actually read da Vinci's backwards scrawl. That these tales can work in a podcast, where no one can even see the work being described, suggests how much the allure of today's art-crime stories is in the skulduggery and mystery, not aesthetics. There are a great many superb extant pen and pencil drawings from this period, including many technical sketchesfor example, pumps, military weapons, mechanical apparatusthat offer evidence of Leonardos interest in and knowledge of technical matters even at the outset of his career. So that was kind of the basic first principle. Salvator Mundi, the long-lost Leonardo da Vinci painting of Jesus Christ commissioned by King Louis XII of France more than 500 years ago, has sold at Christies in New York for $450.3m, including auction house premium, shattering the world record for any work of art sold at auction. The Louvre very much wanted to include it in its grand exhibition to celebrate Leonardo's 500th anniversary in 2019. Before the auction opened, the 500-year-old Leonardo da Vinci painting was estimated to sell for $100 million. TINDERA: That's right. And we can go into the auction record and look at previous copies of that exact same book, when it sold, where it sold, what its estimate was, what it brought. However, we should probably note that it seems unlikely that as the owner of the Codex, Gates would actually do this. 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. [6] Another example is a 2019 sale of The Seated Zouave by Vincent van Gogh. PETERSON-WITHORN: Thanks for listening to Priceless. Six-million five hundred thousand, seven million. Among Leonardos pupils at this time were Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, Ambrogio de Predis, Bernardino de Conti, Francesco Napoletano, Andrea Solari, Marco dOggiono, and Salai. Is it even a Leonardo at all? They reflected the importance of the painting and that some of the bidders were conscious that the price would go higher than their bids. According to a CNBC report, the median net worth of someone who is 66 years old, which is Gates' age is about $266,000. Why do bad things happen to If one drawing sold for $12 million, that would mean that he could sell off this whole book clipped to pieces and earn something like $4 billion. [note 1] Where necessary, the price is first converted to dollars using the exchange rate at the time the painting was sold. On Sunday, May 29, a man disguised as an old woman in a wheelchair threw a cake at the Mona Lisa, Leonardo Da Vinci's legendary painting at Louvre, Paris. So first, we looked to experts in the world of rare books and manuscripts to learn about the qualities that make a book valuable. Since the painting first arrived at the Louvre in 1815, "Mona Lisa" has received plenty of love letters and flowers from admirers. Rybolovlevs spokesman, Brian Cattell, told the Wall Street Journal the family hoped the sale will finally bring to an end a very painful chapter. Fifty-five hundred to start. One of the most famous paintings in the world, the Last Supper was commissioned by Ludovico Sforza, duke of Milan and Leonardo's patron during his first stay in that city, for the Dominican monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie. That is still a question. ", Auction Records Fall at Phillipss Sale of Contemporary Masters, "Fernand Lger (18811955), Contraste de formes", "Warmer Response at Sotheby's 2nd Night of Auctions", "Hong Kong Billionaire Lau Sets Two Records in 24 Hours", Led by $66M Van Gogh, Sotheby's Impressionist and Modern Sale Robustly Kicks Off Season, "Willem de Kooning (19041997), Untitled XXV", "Wang Meng painting auction for $62 million", "A Petite $69 Million Picasso Leads Sotheby's Solid $189 Million Impressionist Sale in London", "Property from a Distinguished Private Collection Pablo Picasso Femme Au Bret Et La Robe Quadrille (Marie-Thrse Walter)", Getty breaks record with $65.1-million purchase of Manet's 'Spring', As Stocks Fall, Art Surges at a $315.8 Million Sale, Claude Monet's "Le Bassin aux nymphas" auction results, A Zao Wou-Ki painting sold for $65 million, breaking records for a work by an Asian artist, Zao Wou-Ki's "Juin-Octobre 1985" auction results, The Most Expensive Paintings ever sold list by theartwolf, Oeuvres d'art les plus dispendieuses au monde, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_most_expensive_paintings&oldid=1140779647, Private Collection, New York, United States, This page was last edited on 21 February 2023, at 19:17. I'm going to show it all over the world.. The paintings transferred to the dealers include a late, Alan Bond could not pay off the painting, and. 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. In both films, Luke Syson, the curator of the show, stands by his decision. Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, and Andy Warhol are the best-represented artists in the list. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Oil tycoon Armand Hammer bought it that year, and 14 years later, Gates bought it at another auction. With its sleek narrative and a wide range of voices from dealers to art historians to investigative journalists, The Lost Leonardo is the better of the two films, and benefits greatly from using Modestini as its main character. I'll give everyone time. Various vandals have tried to harm da Vinci's famed masterpiece, and 1956 was a particularly bad year. But, because of the imminent danger of war, the metal, ready to be poured, was used to make cannons instead, causing the project to come to a halt. I wana write a poem about it. French President Emmanuel Macron pictured in 2018 with the owner of the Leonardo, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (Credit: Photo by Bandar Algaloud/Getty Images), "The Louvre is supported by the government, the ministry of culture and ultimately Macron," Cole tells BBC Culture. Privately resold for ca. It was first unveiled to the public at the National Gallery in London in 2011. A Malevich Suprematist Composition sold for $85.8 million at Christies, breaking the record for a work of Russian art. During his second period in Florence (1500-1508), he painted his most famous work, the Mona Lisa (ca. As everyone who does not live in utter isolation knows, a painting of Christ known as the "Salvator Mundi" ("Savior of the World") by the Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci was. Leonardo da Vinci was a Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, inventor, military engineer and draftsman the epitome of a true Renaissance man. What was Leonardo da Vincis family like? In the days leading up the the sale, Christies produced a video of celebrities viewing the work, among them Leonardo DiCaprio and Patti Smith. CBS CLIP, CONNIE CHUNG: You know, you may be the richest man in America, or at least the second-richest man in America. Or is it? Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Here are 20 of Leonardo da Vinci's most famous paintings: Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. The Virgin and Child with St Anne by Leonardo da Vinci. He also pulled together a list of artwork that he found it to be similar to. The painting was consigned to Christies by Dmitry Rybolovlev, 50, a Russian fertiliser oligarch who has been at the center of an art-world scandal involving claims that a Paris-based dealer, Yves Bouvier, cheated the collector out of as much as $1bn on sales of 38 artworks, including the Leonardo. Alan Wintermute, a senior specialist in old master paintings at Christies in London, called it the holy grail of old masters. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. During this first Milanese period he also made one of his most famous works, the monumental wall painting Last Supper (149598) in the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie (for more analysis of this work, see below Last Supper). But when I saw it, it didn't sit comfortably with me as an autograph Leonardo." The painting, which dates to around 1500, was lost to history for more than 200 years, was damaged and badly restored, and was sold and resold as a minor work, probably by a Leonardo acolyte. Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo da Vinci. Robert Simon told us that he thought it would not sell for less than $150 million. We also spoke with Stephen Massey, who we heard at the beginning of this episode. PETERSON-WITHORN: And in fact, that fall he had just appeared atop our Forbes 400 ranking of the richest Americans, with an estimated net worth of $9.35 billion. He was known to be fastidious in personal care, keeping a beard neat and trim in later age, and to dress in colorful clothing in styles that dismissed current customs. She even has her own mailbox. Alison Cole, editor of The Art Newspaper, has written extensively about the painting and saw it at the National Gallery. Everyone agreed, like Robert Simon said, that were it to go up for auction today. The quality of the painting itself divides people. And then amid all of this, he buys this one-of-a-kind Leonardo da Vinci manuscript at a Christie's auction for $28 million. As of 2023, Leonardo da Vinci's net worth is $320 million. TINDERA: Slicing up and selling off a beautiful manuscript or book is not without precedent, though, Robert explained to us. Five are traditional Chinese paintings by Qi Baishi, Wu Bin, Wang Meng and Xu Yang. The painting was sold in November 2017,[1][2] through the auction house Christie's in New York City. On permanent display at the Louvre in Paris, the Mona Lisa was assessed at US$100 million on 14 December 1962. A scene from Saviour for Sale, a second documentary about the Salvator Mundi, by French journalist Antoine Vitkine (Credit: Zadig Productions). Joining me for this is Chase Peterson-Withorn, an editor on the Forbes wealth team. The sale places Salvator Mundi as the highest-priced work sold privately or at auction, including Pablo Picassos 1955 Women of Algiers (Version O), sold for $179.4m, and Amedeo Modiglianis 1917-18 Reclining Nude, sold for $170.4m. 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. The Burlington House Cartoon by Leonardo da Vinci. Six million dollars, thank you. TINDERA: Robert pointed out one other unique distinction. 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. 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. (or simply Leonardo) (Leonardo diser Piero ser da Vinci) (Italian, 1452-1519). Price excludes sales commission and other costs. It then becomes a first edition of Moby Dick. The documentary covers much of the same ground as The Lost Leonardo, but less stylishly, with too many stock establishing shots of cities. That's because da Vinci wrote it backwards, which is what he did for much of what he wrote. Because at the end of the day, it's an entertaining story.". 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. He Died in May 2, 1519 in Amboise, Kingdom of France.His Famous works includes Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, The Vitruvian Man Style/Period: High Renaissance Biography. Leonardo is sometimes credited as the inventor of the tank, helicopter, parachute, and flying machine, among other vehicles and devices, but later scholarship has disputed such claims. I think it's the greatest acquisition I ever made. He's the head of the Books, Maps and Manuscripts department at Freeman's Auction House in Philadelphia. Mona Lisa. The figure more than doubles the existing record for an artwork sold at auction: a $179.4 million bid for a Picasso in 2015. 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. I've worked as well as an art appraiser. $50 million through Sothebys in 1997. "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. And trying to balance them And of course, one of the things in doing an appraisal like this is you just don't put them in a mix, whatever. There is hardly a person on this planet that doesn't know about this artwork. The first is da Vinci's "The Last Supper," painted during his time in Milan, from about 1495 to 1498. Both sold at Sotheby's in Monaco on the same date in 1989. And seeing these works enjoyed by people all over the world. Because the Louvre cannot comment on privately-owned works it has not displayed, the book can't be published, and at first, Cole says, the museum denied its existence. "As long as this painting is hidden from the world and the future and fate of this painting is unknown, it's going to be clouded in a realm of mystery and the world will be ready to read anything new. It is Oil on wood and measures 168 x 130 cm (5 1/2 x 4 1/2 ft.). $450 million That price more than doubled the. The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci. So next, we decided to try some sources who not only know Old Masters works, but they know da Vinci really well. It next appeared at a Sotheby's in England in 1958 where it sold for 45 - about $125 at the time. Everyone spoke with the caveat that we could never really know what the Codex is worth unless it actually goes up for auction. But Christie's declined to comment, and a spokesperson for Gates never responded to our questions. Leonardos parents were unmarried at the time of his birth. The artwork alone garners thousands of visitors from around the world to the famous gallery it is placed in - the . With closing fees from the auction house, it came out to $30.8 million. [5], The list is incomplete with respect to sales between private parties, as these are not always reported and, even if they are, details like the purchase price may remain secret. One of my hats I wearI'm a capitalist. 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.. On November 20, 2014 at Sotheby's, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art bought her 1932 painting Jimson Weed/White Flower No. In the end, the picture was placed in Christies postwar and contemporary evening sale, wedged between lots of work by Cy Twombly, John Currin, Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Freeman's was founded in 1805, and is actually America's oldest auction house. PETERSON-WITHORN: Two were da Vinci drawings of draperies. Trained in Florence as a painter and sculptor in the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio (1435-1488), Leonardo is also celebrated for his scientific contributions. Somewhere in Saudi Arabia, hidden away by order of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, is the world's most expensive painting, Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi. 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. The Nahmad family bought Suprematist Composition in 2008 at Sotheby's, New York, for $60,002,500 ($76million in 2021 dollars) from the heirs of Kazimir Malevich. PETERSON-WITHORN: Exactly. PETERSON-WITHORN: After the auction, he told the press, I'm very happy with the price. The buyer was anonymous, but the New York Times soon revealed him to be acting for bin Salman, a discovery that catapulted the painting into the geopolitical realm. Most art world observers thought the Salvator Mundi would be the centrepiece of a new museum or art centre in the region, but the painting has not been glimpsed in public since. A major turning point came when the painting was controversially displayed as an authentic Leonardo at a 2011 exhibition at the National Gallery in London. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. And so I think it's, you know, not so much, Let's look at it and see what would happen if we took scissors to it and divided it up. But just to say, Here we have something of such significance, partly because it has survived 500 years without, you know, being destroyed.. 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. 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. Most experts today agree the painting was probably produced by assistants in Leonardo's workshop, where he added some finishing touches a common practice. Leonardo devoted 12 yearswith interruptionsto this task. TINDERA: On sale is a one-of-a kind Leonardo da Vinci manuscript known as the Codex Hammer. There are more and more platforms for telling stories. The alleged vandalism attempt on Sunday left the painting's glass covered in cake frosting. In this room, inon the telephone rather, at $28 million. But many experts on camera and elsewhere in the press think he leapt to an early conclusion. The sale generated a sustained 20 minutes of tense telephone bidding as the auctioneer Jussi Pylkknen juggled rival suitors before a packed crowd of excited onlookers in the salesroom. MASSEY: Twenty-seven million. Also of note is the decorative ceiling painting (1498) he made for the Sala delle Asse in the Milan Castello Sforzesco. Some of the most eye-opening commentary in both films isn't even about art. TINDERA: That's Darren Winston.