The last Leonardo

“The Lost Leonardo” is a 2021 documentary about the drama around the painting “Salvator Mundi”, believed by some to be the work of famous Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci. The story is complex and frankly hard to believe sometimes.

After being lost for centuries, “Salvator Mundi” resurfaced in 2005 at an auction in New Orleans (of all places), where it was bought for about 1,100 dollars by two US art collectors. If I understand the “plot” correctly, they later managed to sell the painting for 83 million dollars! This was after the London National Gallery had claimed that the painting (which they exhibited) was indeed an authentic Leonardo. The artwork was originally heavily overpainted and badly damaged, but was restored by Dianne Modestini, an expert on such things. It´s this restored version that was shown in London and subsequently brought in the 83 million. Skeptics refuse to believe it´s real, and mockingly call the painting “a masterpiece by Dianne Modestini”, charging that she added so much to the original composition that it can´t be considered an independent work anymore. And how do we know Leonardo made it anyway?

The subsequent odyssey of “the savior of the world” is even more bizarre. Or maybe not, if the shadowy and opaque character of the international art trade is held in mind. The 83 million dollar affair was made by a Swiss art dealer, Yves Bouvier, on behalf of super-rich Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev. The latter subsequently accused Bouvier of tricking him into buying the painting for 140 million dollars and pocketing the difference. While the oligarch may be a genuine art fancier, there is also a more pragmatic reason for his art deals (and that of many other rich people). Art is a good way to “store wealth” and move it around without the tax authorities (or Putin?) ever noticing. This is made possible by the so-called freeport system. In Switzerland, none other than the tricksy Bouvier owned huge freeports, in which art and other investment objects could be de facto hidden away. Even sales and purchases of said art can be made at the freeport facilities without governments being able to track the deals. (Of course, the governments have themselves to blame: what stops them from cracking down on the freeports? Exactly.)

When Rybolovlev realized that Bouvier had scammed him out of a billion dollars during various art deals (at least if you believe Mr R´s version of events), the Russian oligarch decided to destroy the greedy Swiss freeport owner. Using all his connections in the world of banking, finance and law, Rybolovlev managed to get Bouvier blacklisted, denied bank loans, losing investments, and so on. In the docu, Bouvier claims he lost everything (including ownership of the freeports). Perhaps to recover his “losses”, the oligarch eventually sold all his art through a British auction house (the auction took place in the US). It was at this auction that “Salvator Mundi” was bought by a then unknown person for a staggering 450 million dollars – the highest price ever paid for a painting. At this point, the CIA became interested, perhaps fearing that the world´s largest money laundering operation was unfolding right under their noses. They soon identified the buyer: a certain Saudi prince. Somebody at the agency also leaked the information to the New York Times! “Salvator Mundi” then vanished, and nobody knows where the painting is today. The documentary speculates that the real buyer is Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and that country´s effective ruler. “Salvator Mundi” is supposedly stashed onboard his yacht.

But why would MBS buy a frankly ugly painting attributed to Leonardo? Even apart from the fact that it´s blasphemous according to Islam! The docu speculates that it could be connected to Saudi “soft diplomacy”. In order to present a better face to the world, Saudi Arabia wants to build a huge tourist facility and “cultural center” at Al-Ula in the Hejaz. Perhaps the lost Leonardo will be exhibited there? The Al-Ula business may also be connected to a huge Saudi purchase of French military hardware…

There have also been some weird shenanigans surrounding a 2019-2020 Leonardo exhibition at the Louvre in France. It´s possible that “Salvator Mundi” was supposed to have been exhibited there, in the same room as “Mona Lisa”, but for some reason the unknown owner pulled back at the last moment. The Louvre bookstore by mistake sold some copies of a book claiming that “Salvator Mundi” was authentic, but the book was quickly pulled as well and all remaining copies destroyed. Maybe this book is now just as rare as real Leonardo paintings? The reason for the panicky backtracking is unclear, but “The Lost Leonardo” wonders aloud whether the Louvre labs at the last moment failed to authenticate the painting, prompting MBS to withdraw his offer of exhibiting it.

As already mentioned, the makers of “The Lost Leonardo” don´t seem to believe that “Salvator Mundi” is the real deal, although it certainly was a lucrative one! Pesky art critic Jerry Saltz, who is something of a joker, is prominently featured, as are other skeptics. Personally, I have no opinion on the matter, opinionated or otherwise, but the documentary is interesting in its own right, giving a sneak peek into the demimonde of tax havens and the super-rich. According to the all-knowing site Wikipedia, the elusive Leonardo (or is it Modestini) should really have been exhibited at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, a joint French-United Arab Emirates project. Let´s be honest: since nobody outside the art world (and hardly even there, it seems) really gives a damn whether it´s fake or not, the UAE probably wouldn´t lose any cred by actually exhibiting it. Real or not, “Salvator Mundi” is probably just as well known as “Mona Lisa” (and "The Da Vinci Code") at this point!