“Salvator Mundi,” the last privately owned Leonardo da Vinci painting, is a portrait of Jesus Christ that is expected to sell for $100 million at Christie’s, New York, on November 15, 2017.The portrait, sometimes referred to as the male Mona Lisa, had long been thought to have been lost or destroyed. It depicts Christ in vivid blue and crimson robes holding a crystal orb. First recorded in the private collection of King Charles I, the work was auctioned in 1763 before disappearing until 1900, by which time Christ’s face and hair had been painted over. The new owner started the restoration process and authenticated the portrait as da Vinci’s more than 500-year-old masterpiece after six years of intense research.“Salvator Mundi” will be sold at Christie’s during the auction house’s sale of post-war and contemporary art, following public exhibitions in Hong Kong, London, and San Francisco. The sale will also feature Andy Warhol’s monumental “Sixty Last Suppers,” a piece from one of the pop artist’s final series before his death in 1987, noted Reuters.
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