The Strange Saga of the Salvator Mundi | Part 1

#salvatormundi #davinci #PikeProductions

The Salvator Mundi by Leonardo Da Vinci* is a controversial painting. Not because of the painting itself, but rather how it was portrayed by museums, the media, and its handlers.

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Abridged Script:

What is the most famous painting in the world? Based on Google search data, it is the Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci. And the second most famous? The Last Supper, also by Da Vinci.

500 years after his life, Da Vinci’s legacy continues to be celebrated internationally. It is widely considered that he only worked on 20 paintings independently, with only a few surviving to this day. Several of his paintings are considered to be lost to history, or possibly held by owners who are unaware of their authorship.

When a new Da Vinci was rediscovered in the early 2000s, the world rejoiced. But what if it wasn’t a real Da Vinci? What if it was a product of deceit, self-deception, and sloppy journalism? What if this painting was the cause of scams that would measure in the tens of millions of dollars, and be the cause of diplomatic tensions between regional powers.

This is the story of the Salvator Mundi.

Alexander Parish and Robert Simon are art dealers in New York’s upper east side that have collaborated on several spec pieces. The business of art speculation involves finding undervalued art. Such an opportunity arose in 2005 from the New Orleans Auction Gallery.

The speculators had their eye on a rendition of a Salvator Mundi, which was a popular style of depicting Jesus during the renaissance. There are dozens of Salvator Mundi’s, all of which show Jesus giving a blessing with one hand, and holding a sphere in another hand. Da Vinci painted his own Salvator Mundi, and its last known owner was Charles the 1st of England. Charles was executed after the English Civil war, and the painting’s whereabouts since have been a matter of mystery.

Parish and Simon had no expectation that this Salvator Mundi in New Orleans was Da Vinci’s. It was obviously inspired by Da Vinci, given the details of Jesus’ curls and smokey gaze. They anticipated it could be dated to the renaissance era and turned for a profit. Maybe they would get lucky and it could be traced to one of Da Vinci's students.

They were the only bidders on this piece, and purchased it for a little over $1,000. Before any authentication could be done, the painting had to be restored. In the 1800s, it was common practice to simply over-paint originals as a means of restoration. The supplemental paint had to be removed to know what they had.

For restoration, they took the painting to Professor Dianne Dwyer Modestini. The professor was unimpressed, and said it would be a better project for one of her students. The art dealers persisted, and professor Modestini reluctantly accepted the task of restoring this piece.
While removing the unoriginal paint with acetone and a variety of mineralized liquids, the professor discovered something peculiar about Jesus’s right thumb: it seemed that the original artist had changed their mind as to if the thumb should be curved or straight. This is a common feature in art, so much so that it has a technical name: Pentimenti.

Pentimintis are usually an indicator of originality. If this painting was a copy of Da Vinci’s original, there wouldn’t be any pentimentis. The copier would be working off an already established subject; there simply wouldn’t be the possibility of changing one’s mind since they were attempting to recreate an existing piece. Could this be a Da Vinci original?

Credits :

Video

Mona Lisa Tourists-    • Visiting Mona Lisa at the Louvre on a...  
Last Supper in Milan -    • Milan: Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Suppe...  
Drone of Tuscany -    • TUSCANY | The birthplace of Leonardo ...  
Example of restoration -    • Welcome to Baumgartner Fine Art Resto...  
Reconstructing Historical Methods of Making Oil Paint -    • Reconstructing Historical Methods of ...  
Making a wood plank -    • Traditional way to make wood planks i...  
Drone of football fields -    • Monaco (Monte Carlo) - Adventure Unfo...  


Music

Vivaldi Four Seasons: Summer performed by Cynthia Freivogel with Voices of Music -    • Vivaldi Four Seasons: Summer (L'Estat...  
Night Owl by Broke for Free (http://brokeforfree.com/) Used with permission under license of CC 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...)
No 4 Piano Journey performed by Esther Abrami -    / @estherabrami  
Blizzard (Pon I) by Kai Engel (https://www.kai-engel.com/) Used with permission under license of CC 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...)
Corelli | Concerto Grosso Op. 6 n. 8 [Christmas Concerto; Camerata RCO] provided in Community Commons courtesy of Andrea Scalia of the Renaissance Music Project