- ROMA, 17 OTT - A brand-new museum for the controversial and
record-breaking "Salvator Mundi" attributed to Leonardo da Vinci
will soon be created in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Crown prince and de facto ruler Mohammed Bin Salman Al
Saud (MBS), who in 2017 bought the painting attributed - amid a
flurry of controversy - to the Renaissance master for the record
price of 450 million dollars, is now having a special gallery
built to have the painting on exhibit in his country.
A renowned art historian from Oxford, Martin Kemp, mentioned
this during a conference at the literary festival of Cheltenham
in the UK.
"The Salvator Mundi" is in Saudi Arabia and the country is
building a special art gallery for it that will soon be
finished, I believe in 2024", said Kemp, who in the past was one
of the experts who leaned strongly towards attributing the work
to Leonardo.
The art historian expressed some reservations regarding his
having to be "convinced to go to see the painting in Saudi" due
to the "unacceptable" situation with regards to human rights in
the country.
The desert kingdom is blacklisted by much of the international
community.
Nonetheless, Kemp said that he would be ready to go to Saudi
Arabia if his presence were to be helpful to bring the painting
"back to see the light of day".
A real 'diva' in the art world, since the painting was sold by
the auction house Christie's, the "Salvator Mundi" is estimated
to have been painted around 1500 by Leonardo with the help of
one or more of his students.
The painting has earned by some the nickname of "the male
version of the Mona Lisa".
It shows Christ in the act of blessing with one hand while, with
the other, he holds a small crystal globe.
After the sale for an unsurpassed amount of money in the auction
market, several doubts were raised about the painting's
authenticity.
Last year, the Prado museum in Madrid joined others in
professing that the painting was not the work of Leonardo's
hand, but rather of his students under his supervision.
Since 2017, when it was shown by Christie's, the "Salvator
Mundi" has not been seen in public.
Before that date, in 2011, it was included in a Leonardo exhibit
at the National Gallery in London, while for the following five
years many were wondering where the painting had vanished to.
One of the most daring stories, in addition to the usual
suspect, a Swiss vault, was MBS's yacht, with the inevitable
worries that the salinity of such an environment could have on
the painting's state of conservation.
Saudi Arabia is pouring enormous investments into its cultural
institutions.
Next year it plans to open the vast Wadi AlFann complex, in the
north west of the country, curated by Iwona Blazwick, from the
UK, who had curated the Whitechapel Gallery for decades, who was
recruited as consultant for the project.
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