Salvator Mundi attributed to Leonardo and disappeared? Maybe it's on the yacht of the prince of Saudi Arabia....

For several months, everyone has been wondering what happened to the Salvator Mundi, the panel painting attributed to Leonardo da Vinci that was auctioned at Christie’s in 2017 for $450 million, making it the most expensive work ever to go through an auction. The solution to the mystery may be close, however, and revealing new background is the specialized website artnet news: columnist Kenny Schachter, citing his own sources (including two key players in the transaction), claims that the work is on the Serene, the yacht of Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the 33-year-old son of King Salman of Saudi Arabia.

According to Schachter’s sources, the prince plans to keep the work on his megayacht (a vessel built in 2011 for Russian vodka magnate Jurij Shefler, then leased to Bill Gates for $5 million a week, and finally sold to Mohammed bin Salman for about 500 million euros) until he finishes construction of the Al-Ula cultural hub, for which the panel attributed to Leonardo is allegedly intended. Al-Ula is a small town of just five thousand inhabitants in the middle of the Arabian desert, 300 kilometers away from Medina, but it is one of the country’s most important archaeological sites: it is a kind of Saudi Petra, and some 20 kilometers from the town there is also Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO heritage site, the site of Al-Hijr, an ancient city carved out of rock. Arabia intends to make Al-Ula a popular tourist destination (“basically, a Disneyland of art,” Schachter points out), and among the facilities that will open in the area will be a network of museums centered on Arab civilization, but also welcoming Western works, and expected to compete with the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

At the moment, Schachter’s editorial is the only source on the possible location of the Salvator Mundi. And the story told does not seem all that improbable. Moreover, if indeed the prince’s intentions are to keep the work with him, the Louvre Abu Dhabi may as well say goodbye to the exhibition that would have featured the Salvator Mundi as a major player...

Pictured is Salvator Mundi attributed to Leonardo da Vinci (c. 1499; oil on panel; 65.6 x 45.4 cm; Private collection)

Salvator Mundi attributed to Leonardo and disappeared? Maybe it's on the yacht of the prince of Saudi Arabia....

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