One thing is certain: “Salvator Mundi”, painted around 1500, has already swum through many streams. For example, the painting was lost for more than a century. In 2005, a New York art dealer found it in very bad shape in the estate of a Louisiana family and bought it for $ 1,175. British experts earmarked the painting as a real da Vinci, after which it was sold to, among others, a Russian businessman. Until it was put up for auction at Christie’s in 2017 and raised $ 450 million.
By the way: a art historian has offered a digital version of the painting (Christ with a fist full of dollar bills) as an NFT (non-fundible token, payable in crypto currency) on the art market. He wants to share the proceeds of “Salvator Metaversi” with the Louisiana family who at the time only received a good 1,000 dollars for the real painting.
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