Anonymous tycoon spends nearly half a billion USD to buy painting 'Savior of the World'

Leonardo Da Vinci's portrait of Jesus Christ, titled 'Savior of the World', has just been sold for $450 million, becoming the most expensive painting ever sold at auction.

Leonardo Da Vinci's 'Savior of the World' - Photo: NEW YORK TIMES

This is one of only 20 works by Leonardo Da Vinci that still exist and the only one in a private collection. It was painted around 1500.

"Savior of the World" is owned by Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, who bought the painting in 2013 for $127.5 million.

The identity of the person who spent 450 million USD to own "The Savior of the World" in the Christie's auction was not revealed.

The New York Times said the previous record belonged to "Women in Algeria" by the great painter Pablo Picasso, also sold by Christie's auction house, for 179.4 million USD in 2015.

The 66cm tall painting depicts Jesus in Renaissance attire, his right hand raised in blessing, while his left hand holds a crystal ball.

In the 19-minute auction, after just over 10 minutes, the price of the painting reached 300 million USD and the whole audience applauded. The race was between 3 buyers by phone and 1 person present in the audience.

To become the world's most expensive painting sold at auction, "The Savior of the World" has gone through an extremely arduous journey, disappearing from the public eye many times.

The painting was once owned by King Charles I of England but disappeared for a long time, only to reappear in public in 1900, in the hands of a British collector. At that time, it was believed that the painting was painted by a student, not Leonardo Da Vinci.

In 1958, the painting was sold again and only "reappeared" in 2005 in a "disfigured" state because part of it had been painted over.

Art dealers have worked hard to restore and confirm that this is the work of Leonardo Da Vinci.

Most experts at Christie's auction house confirmed that this is a work by Leonardo Da Vinci.

However, some critics say that the multiple restorations have obscured the true authorship of the painting.

According to tuoitre.vn