The original one is now located at Muse du Louvre, Paris. Early Life: Verrocchio's Pupil. ", Auction Records Fall at Phillipss Sale of Contemporary Masters, "Fernand Lger (18811955), Contraste de formes", "Warmer Response at Sotheby's 2nd Night of Auctions", "Hong Kong Billionaire Lau Sets Two Records in 24 Hours", Led by $66M Van Gogh, Sotheby's Impressionist and Modern Sale Robustly Kicks Off Season, "Willem de Kooning (19041997), Untitled XXV", "Wang Meng painting auction for $62 million", "A Petite $69 Million Picasso Leads Sotheby's Solid $189 Million Impressionist Sale in London", "Property from a Distinguished Private Collection Pablo Picasso Femme Au Bret Et La Robe Quadrille (Marie-Thrse Walter)", Getty breaks record with $65.1-million purchase of Manet's 'Spring', As Stocks Fall, Art Surges at a $315.8 Million Sale, Claude Monet's "Le Bassin aux nymphas" auction results, A Zao Wou-Ki painting sold for $65 million, breaking records for a work by an Asian artist, Zao Wou-Ki's "Juin-Octobre 1985" auction results, The Most Expensive Paintings ever sold list by theartwolf, Oeuvres d'art les plus dispendieuses au monde, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_most_expensive_paintings&oldid=1140779647, Private Collection, New York, United States, This page was last edited on 21 February 2023, at 19:17. There are a great many superb extant pen and pencil drawings from this period, including many technical sketchesfor example, pumps, military weapons, mechanical apparatusthat offer evidence of Leonardos interest in and knowledge of technical matters even at the outset of his career. He used his superb intellect, unusual powers of observation, and mastery of the art of drawing to study nature itself, a line of inquiry that allowed his dual pursuits of art and science to flourish. Read about our approach to external linking. PETERSON-WITHORN: Two were da Vinci drawings of draperies. The figure more than doubles the existing record for an artwork sold at auction: a $179.4 million bid for a Picasso in 2015. Quiz: Ancient Illustrations Showing Us the Way, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leonardo-da-Vinci, Social Studies for Kids - Biography of Leonardo da Vinci, Humanities LibreTexts - Leonardo da Vinci, Art Encyclopedia - Biography of Leonardo Da Vinci, University of California Museum of Paleontology - Biography of Leonardo da Vinci, Web Gallery of Art - Biography of Leonardo da Vinci, Leonardo da Vinci - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Leonardo da Vinci - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up), Art and accomplishment: Leonardo as artist-scientist, Art and accomplishment: Painting and drawing. He was also frequently consulted as a technical adviser in the fields of architecture, fortifications, and military matters, and he served as a hydraulic and mechanical engineer. A New York Times story on the sale remarked that it was the highest price ever paid at auction for a manuscript. A lost painting by Leonardo da Vinci may have been found in a Scottish farmhouse, reported The Daily Mail. Last Supper (c. 1495-98) Leonardo da Vinci: Last Supper Images Group/REX/Shutterstock.com. For her part, Modestini has documented her work and the scientific studies of the painting, and published them online. People who often would never get a chance to visit the great museums of the world. TINDERA: Ultimately, in his appraisal, which Simon submitted in December 1993. Four hundred million selling here at Christies. In 1472 Leonardo was accepted into the painters guild of Florence, but he remained in his teachers workshop for five more years, after which time he worked independently in Florence until 1481. Pablo Picasso "Garon la pipe" (1905): $142.7 million 8. An exceptional case is graffiti artist David Choe, who accepted payment in shares for painting graffiti art in the headquarters of a fledgling Facebook. TINDERA: In his appraisal Simon selected five comparable works all from the Renaissance era. That he gave up both projects seems to indicate that he had deeper reasons for leaving Florence. TINDERA: Now the audience in the room doesnt know this, but a representative for Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates is bidding on the phone. Leonardo da Vinci, (Italian: "Leonardo from Vinci") (born April 15, 1452, Anchiano, near Vinci, Republic of Florence [Italy]died May 2, 1519, Cloux [now Clos-Luc], France), Italian painter, draftsman, sculptor, architect, and engineer whose skill and intelligence, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance humanist He currently resides in Vinci, Italy. Is it even a Leonardo at all? The painting sold for $119,922,500, Picassos Nude, Green Leaves and Bust (1932) sold at Christie's in New York for $106,482,500, Lhomme qui Marche I (1961) by Alberto Giacometti sold for 65,001,250 ($105,182,398) at Sothebys in London, Picassos Boy With a Pipe (1905) sold at Sotheby's in New York for $104,168,000, Gustav Klimts Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II (1912)went under the hammer at Christies New York and sold for $87,936,000, Francis Bacons Triptych (1976) sold for $85.9m to oligarch Roman Abramovich, A Chinese 18th century Qianlong dynasty porcelain vase sold for 53,100,000 ($85,921,461) at Bainbridges auction house in London, Dora Maar au Chat (1941) by Pablo Picasso sold for 51,560,080 ($83,429,503) at Sotheby's in London, Portrait of Dr Paul Gachet (1890) by Vincent van Gogh sold for $82,500,000 (50,985,692) at Christies in New York, Thank you all for your bidding, said Pylkknen. Inside besides da Vinci's writings, there are also about 360 drawings and diagrams throughout the manuscript. Most observers agree that it is likely stashed in the Middle East, but some have speculated that it is stored in a tax-free zone in Geneva or even on the Prince's half-a-billion-dollar yacht. It is Oil on wood and measures 168 x 130 cm (5 1/2 x 4 1/2 ft.). PETERSON-WITHORN: In the end, we decided to take the average of all the recommendations we got from our expert sources. If all we do is adjust the $30.8 million that Gates paid for it for inflation, that gets us to somewhere around $50 million today. So Gates buying Leonardo da Vinci's notebook is the equivalent of a typical 66-year-old splurging ona new iPad. It was first unveiled to the public at the National Gallery in London in 2011. TINDERA: Simon talked about how there have been a certain subset of book dealers called "breakers," who made it their job to buy books and then tear them apart, selling their illustrated pages piece by piece. Taking inflation into account, the 1962 value would be around US$900 million in 2021. And that was the process. Well, as we mentioned, the most expensive painting ever sold at auction was the Salvator Mundi for $450 million. ", Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi was sold by Christie's in 2017 for a record-breaking $450 million (Credit: Photo by Ilya S Savenok/Getty Images for Christie's Auction House). All episodes of the Art Bust podcast are available now. The image of Christ as The Saviour of the World was billed as The Last da Vinci at Christie's 2017 auction, where it sold for a record $450 million (342 million) to a proxy for bin Salman (yes, that bin Salman, whom the CIA found responsible for ordering the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi). It's with you at $28 million. A Belgian banker and collector who bought it in 1939 for $18,000. MASSEY: Nineteen-million five hundred thousand I'll be happy to take. Before this, the highest absolute price paid for a painting was 8.1 million (20.4 million in 2021 currency) paid by the J. Paul Getty Museum for Andrea Mantegna's Adoration of the Magi at Christie's in London on 18 April 1985. In this episode, we're taking you inside the world of rare books, manuscripts, and Old Masters works to tell you about how we've estimated the value of one very special notebook, with ties to the world's most expensive painting ever sold at auction: the Salvator Mundi. For this notebook, we considered values ranging from $50 million, all the way up to $4 billion. He also did not apply himself to higher mathematicsadvanced geometry and arithmeticuntil he was 30 years old, when he began to study it with diligent tenacity. In both films, Luke Syson, the curator of the show, stands by his decision. So, in discussing what the Codex might be worth today, Robert Simon brought up a recent sale of a da Vinci, which was of a teeny, tiny three-inch by three-inch drawing of a bear's head, which sold in July of this year for $12 million. TINDERA: That's right. But no one thought it was still worth the $30.8 million Gates paid for it. To him, it was just his collection of scientific observations and illustrations and writings, mostly focused on the study of water. PETERSON-WITHORN: And in fact, that fall he had just appeared atop our Forbes 400 ranking of the richest Americans, with an estimated net worth of $9.35 billion. An attempt to psychoanalyze the buyer of Leonardo da Vinci's 'Salvator Mundi.' Tim Schneider , November 17, 2017 The scene at Christie's New York on November 15. With closing fees from the auction house, it came out to $30.8 million. In New York last night, he said he had never doubted the piece would break records. SIMON: These went into the mix. The piece is sold.. PETERSON-WITHORN: After the auction, he told the press, I'm very happy with the price. And so I think it's, you know, not so much, Let's look at it and see what would happen if we took scissors to it and divided it up. But just to say, Here we have something of such significance, partly because it has survived 500 years without, you know, being destroyed.. Leonardo spent 17 years in Milan, until Ludovicos fall from power in 1499. During his second period in Florence (1500-1508), he painted his most famous work, the Mona Lisa (ca. But many experts on camera and elsewhere in the press think he leapt to an early conclusion. See a gallery of the world's most expensive paintings, Leonardo da Vincis Salvator Mundi sold for $400 million at Christies ($450.3m, including auction house premium), One of four versions of The Scream created by Munch and the only one that is privately owned. The winning bidder would later be revealed to be Saudi Arabia's Prince. "As long as this painting is hidden from the world and the future and fate of this painting is unknown, it's going to be clouded in a realm of mystery and the world will be ready to read anything new. LONDON A tiny Leonardo da Vinci sketch sold on Thursday at Christie's for 8.9 million with fees, or about $12.2 million, a record price for a Leonardo drawing at auction . MASSEY: Twenty-seven million. However, other critics have disagreed with the truth of that claim. On July 12, 2011, $75M was equivalent to 53M. Soon, the painting was on its way to Christie's. PETERSON-WITHORN: Art is one of the toughest things we value for our lists, because the value is just so subjective, and you really don't know what something will sell for until it hits the auction block. MASSEY: Still with me then at five-million five hundred thousand, five-million eight hundred thousand, five-million eight hundred thousand. Simon has said that it took a couple of years after they bought the painting to become convinced himself that he was dealing with an original work by Leonardo. On the telephone in this room at $28 million. It's not exactly known why he did that. Moreover, he was no doubt enticed by Duke Ludovico Sforzas brilliant court and the meaningful projects awaiting him there. ", https://www.telegraph.co.uk/luxury/art/art-sales-russian-buyers-inject-confidence-into-old-master-marke/, Picasso piece sets record for art sold at auction, qatar may have purchased Warhol's 'Eight Elvises', "Nahmads confirm Picasso's $115m flower girl will go to Paris", "Rockefeller Picasso sells for $115 million including feesauthor=Robert Frank", "DIC Sells 'Anna's Light' Painting For Y10.3bn Gain", "Regarding extraordinary profit associated with the sale of a certain painting owned by the company and revision of its consolidated operating result forecast", "How Basquiat Became the $60 Million Man", "A Basquiat Sells for 'Mind-Blowing' $110.5 Million at Auction", A Monet Sells for $110.7 Million, an Auction High for an Impressionist Work, "Qatar bought Ford House's $100-million Cezanne", "$100M for Czanne painting? We asked Robert, if the Codex if it went up for sale again, could it compete with the Mundi's price? MASSEY: Twenty-five million, twenty-six million. His father, Ser Piero, was a Florentine notary and landlord, and his mother, Caterina, was a young peasant woman who shortly thereafter married an artisan. She is a captivating, elegant presence on screen, with a whispery voice and wide eyes behind signature black or red-framed glasses. Therell never be another painting that I shall sell for more than this painting tonight.. But, because of the imminent danger of war, the metal, ready to be poured, was used to make cannons instead, causing the project to come to a halt. Previewing the lot last month, Christies described the painting of Christ holding a crystal orb in his left hand and raising his right in benediction as the biggest discovery of the 21st century. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) is one of the most intriguing personalities in the history of Western art. Whoever cut it up would be pilloried forever. Last Supper, Italian Cenacolo, one of the most famous artworks in the world, painted by Leonardo da Vinci probably between 1495 and 1498 for the Dominican monastery Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. But if our maximum value isn't $4 billion, then what is it? An artist by disposition and endowment, he considered his eyes to be his main avenue to knowledge; to Leonardo, sight was mans highest sense because it alone conveyed the facts of experience immediately, correctly, and with certainty. The first is da Vinci's "The Last Supper," painted during his time in Milan, from about 1495 to 1498. Before Rybolovlev, Salvator Mundi had been owned by a consortium of dealers including Alexander Parish, who had picked it up for $10,000 at an estate sale in the US in 2005, and had had it restored and authenticated. In Verrocchios renowned workshop Leonardo received multifaceted training that included painting and sculpture as well as the technical-mechanical arts. Nonetheless, the exhibition went a long way toward legitimising a shaky attribution. Hammer somehow convinced the courts he was increasing shareholder value. As late as the press preview of the show, there was an empty space on the wall waiting for the Salvator Mundi, but it never arrived. But one key difference between my version and the one Bill Gates owns is that while my version is bound in the middle, like any typical hardcover book, every page of the original Codex Leicester is held in glass to make it easier to view all the pages. Veiled in layers of mystery and international intrigue, the story of the Salvator Mundi is an ongoing, endlessly fascinating saga, told in two new documentaries, The Lost Leonardo and Saviour for Sale: Da Vinci's Lost Masterpiece?, which play out with all the drama and suspense of a detective story. That's why these valuations can be so tricky. Later in 2002, Thomson donated his private collection, including the Rubens, to the. $450 million That price more than doubled the. At the press conference, Artnews reported, Gouzer spoke of the exceptional rarity of a work by Leonardo. The work, thought to be a 500-year-old portait of Madonna and child, is potentially worth over $150 million (100 million) if experts are able to prove its authenticity. At $28 million. Leonardos artistic inclinations must have appeared early. Nineteen million on the telephone. Self Portrait by Leonardo da Vinci. He Died in May 2, 1519 in Amboise, Kingdom of France.His Famous works includes Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, The Vitruvian Man Style/Period: High Renaissance Biography. SIMON: And if you look at the illuminated manuscripts that are from, you know, missiles, and you know, these are Renaissance manuscripts, many of them have been broken apart. TINDERA: So how much is the Codex worth today? One sold for nearly $6 million, and the other for $5.2 million. I've worked as well as an art appraiser. [5], The list is incomplete with respect to sales between private parties, as these are not always reported and, even if they are, details like the purchase price may remain secret. The Netflix series This Is a Robbery delves into the 1990 theft of masterworks including a Rembrandt from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Five are traditional Chinese paintings by Qi Baishi, Wu Bin, Wang Meng and Xu Yang. This stands as the most expensive painting by a living artist. PETERSON-WITHORN: Given Simon's connections to the Salvator Mundi, and his experience running a gallery of Old Masters works, he seemed like an excellent source to speak with for this valuation. Two years later, some colourful characters entered the game. The alleged vandalism attempt on Sunday left the painting's glass covered in cake frosting. Its the zenith of my career as an auctioneer. On permanent display at the Louvre in Paris, the Mona Lisa was assessed at US$100 million on 14 December 1962. Biography Of Leonardo da Vinci: How Old Is Leonardo da Vinci | Net Worth | People ProfilesPeople Profiles is a channel that dives deep into the lives of some. He had an exceedingly inquisitive mind and made strenuous efforts to become erudite in languages, natural science, mathematics, philosophy, and history, among other subjects. With its sleek narrative and a wide range of voices from dealers to art historians to investigative journalists, The Lost Leonardo is the better of the two films, and benefits greatly from using Modestini as its main character. Also of note is the decorative ceiling painting (1498) he made for the Sala delle Asse in the Milan Castello Sforzesco. And we're going to show you how we narrowed that range to settle on one number. TINDERA: Okay, so our $4 billion estimate isn't all that realistic. The Virgin and Child with St Anne was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci in 1510. Oil tycoon Armand Hammer bought it that year, and 14 years later, Gates bought it at another auction. The Wikipedia template uses a yearly average inflation. So, we reached out to Martin Kemp, who is another da Vinci scholar, and an Oxford University emeritus professor. TINDERA: That average of every expert opinion worked out to about $130 million. 1. Life of Leonardo da Vinci, a Short Biography 1. So next, we decided to try some sources who not only know Old Masters works, but they know da Vinci really well. In fact, it was also noted in the Codexs 1994 auction catalogue written by late da Vinci scholar Carlo Pedretti, that the Mona Lisa is, "indeed a visual synthesis of Leonardo's scientific knowledge as summed up in the Codex.". Everyone agreed, like Robert Simon said, that were it to go up for auction today. And then amid. The abrupt $20m and $30m jumps in price were indeed unusual, Cerutti confirmed. At the time bin Salman was trying to burnish Saudi Arabia's image by loosening a few restrictions. In November 2017 Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman paid $450 million for a da Vinci painting. PETERSON-WITHORN: Thanks for listening to Priceless. In cases like these, that's why we have to turn to the experts who know more about this than us. They bought it from an auction in Louisiana for just over $1,000. "And it is involved therefore in the politics around culture. And my background is as an art historian. That boosted this forgotten painting into the limelight and kickstarted the. Freeman's was founded in 1805, and is actually America's oldest auction house. The Burlington House Cartoon by Leonardo da Vinci. I'll give everyone time. [3] French President Emmanuel Macron pictured in 2018 with the owner of the Leonardo, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (Credit: Photo by Bandar Algaloud/Getty Images), "The Louvre is supported by the government, the ministry of culture and ultimately Macron," Cole tells BBC Culture. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. But, it makes up only about 0.1% of Gates' $134 billion fortune, which we estimated for the Forbes 400 this year. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Billionaires just live in a different world. Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, and Andy Warhol are the best-represented artists in the list. What Gouzer may have meant is that buyers prepared to spend in excess of $100m on artwork exist in the modern and contemporary fields. But even then, many Leonardo experts were dubious that the painting had more than a few brush strokes by him, and those doubts have ramped up ever since. PETERSON-WITHORN: Yeah, when I heard about that $12 million sale, I remembered that the Codex had about 360 illustrations inside of it. One of two pastel versions; another two painted versions (and lithography) exist, all created by Munch. So that was kind of the basic first principle. A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Future, Culture, Worklife and Travel, delivered to your inbox every Friday. You can't really show it offwhether it's to your best friends or in a museum if you're a public institution. [8] The actual purchase price was not disclosed, because of a confidentiality agreement attached to the private sale. While Hammer was alive, we reported that Oxy shareholders sued three times asking to be reimbursed for what Hammer spent on art and the museum. Top 10 most expensive works of art sold at auction - in pictures, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, Moment Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi sells for record-breaking $400m - video, Salvator Mundi painting by Leonardo Da Vinci before and after restoration, Leonardo's Vitruvian Man can go to the Louvre, court rules, Leonardo and Raphael art swap marks end of France-Italy spat, Short of imagination: Germaine Greer scorns Leonardo da Vincis art, Leonardo da Vinci events marred by Italy and France row, Rare Leonardo da Vinci notebook to go on show at British Library, World's most expensive painting is authentic Leonardo, insists expert, Louvre Abu Dhabi postpones display of Leonardo's Salvator Mundi, Leonardo scholar challenges attribution of $450m painting, Leonardo's earliest surviving work? Back in 1980 according to an Associated Press report, the man who was the Earl of Leicester at the time decided to sell the Codex, which had been part of the Earl's estate for more than 250 years. He decided that the Codex's fair market value was $50 million. Alan Wintermute, a senior specialist in old master paintings at Christies in London, called it the holy grail of old masters. Using monthly averages gives slightly different numbers, most significantly for paintings sold early or late in a year with significant inflation. ROBERT SIMON: My name is Robert Simon. Whereas Picasso and Warhol became wealthy men, van Gogh is known to have sold only one painting in his lifetime, The Red Vineyard, for 400 French francs (approximately $2,000 in 2018 dollars) in 1890, to the Belgian impressionist painter and heiress Anna Boch. TINDERA: Okay, so to recap, when it sold in 1980, it was expected to sell for $10 million, but ended up going for half that. During this first Milanese period he also made one of his most famous works, the monumental wall painting Last Supper (149598) in the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie (for more analysis of this work, see below Last Supper).