The Location of ‘Salvator Mundi’(news.artnet.com)
news.artnet.com
The Location of ‘Salvator Mundi’
https://news.artnet.com/opinion/kenny-schachter-on-the-missing-salvator-mundi-1565674
3 comments
What Kool-Aid has convinced anyone that’s a DaVinci I cannot guess.
This was a good (long) article from a couple of months ago that goes through the story: https://www.vulture.com/2019/04/salvator-mundi-leonardo-da-v...
It's an interesting story, anyway.
It's an interesting story, anyway.
You don't even have to be an expert to tell it isn't. Compared to Leonardo's paintings, Salvator Mundi is just boring.
Unless Leonardo just phoned it in. But I don't think there is a way to tell if a work was painted by a student or by Leonardo pretending to be a student anyway.
Unless Leonardo just phoned it in. But I don't think there is a way to tell if a work was painted by a student or by Leonardo pretending to be a student anyway.
Basically nobody seriously thinks it's an actual Da Vinci, but at this point it doesn't really matter. The narrative around the painting makes it a far more interesting work than any second rate actual Da Vinci could ever hope to be.
The surrounding narrative bit also worked wonders for another Da Vinci hit "The Mona Lisa". Had it not been stolen it would still be relatively obscure.
I never liked the explanation for the crystal orb. Oh, Leonardo knew about optics, but he painted the orb naïvely to show some sort of miracle.
Why don't you like that explanation? Leonardo was obsessed with detail, and he would study things intensely, it's not that much of a stretch.
Which is why you'd expect an orb painted by Leonardo to have the correct optics.
Wasn't the orb supposed to symbolize Jesus performing another miracle by not having the light warp the fabric?
That's exactly the argument I'm dismissing. It's not much of a miracle for the orb to transmit light as one would naïvely expect. Rather, it suggests that somebody didn't do their homework.
I find it fascinating that the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia which is home to the holiest sites in Islam, paid so much money for a distinctly Christian art peace ("Salvator Mundi" is Latin for "Savior of the World").
>I find it fascinating that the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia which is home to the holiest sites in Islam
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destruction_of_early_Islamic_h...
"The destruction of sites associated with early Islam is an ongoing phenomenon that has occurred mainly in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, particularly around the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. The demolition has focused on mosques, burial sites, homes and historical locations associated with the Islamic prophet Muhammad and many of the founding personalities of early Islamic history."
https://time.com/3584585/saudi-arabia-bulldozes-over-its-her...
"Over the last few years, mosques and key sites dating from the time of Muhammad have been knocked down or destroyed, as have Ottoman-era mansions, ancient wells and stone bridges. Over 98% of the Kingdom’s historical and religious sites have been destroyed since 1985, estimates the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation in London."
>paid so much money for a distinctly Christian art peace ("Salvator Mundi" is Latin for "Savior of the World").
And even more funny is that the "Salvator Mundi" may very probably end up in the new royal palace being built on the site of the bulldozed Mohammed's birthplace.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destruction_of_early_Islamic_h...
"The destruction of sites associated with early Islam is an ongoing phenomenon that has occurred mainly in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, particularly around the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. The demolition has focused on mosques, burial sites, homes and historical locations associated with the Islamic prophet Muhammad and many of the founding personalities of early Islamic history."
https://time.com/3584585/saudi-arabia-bulldozes-over-its-her...
"Over the last few years, mosques and key sites dating from the time of Muhammad have been knocked down or destroyed, as have Ottoman-era mansions, ancient wells and stone bridges. Over 98% of the Kingdom’s historical and religious sites have been destroyed since 1985, estimates the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation in London."
>paid so much money for a distinctly Christian art peace ("Salvator Mundi" is Latin for "Savior of the World").
And even more funny is that the "Salvator Mundi" may very probably end up in the new royal palace being built on the site of the bulldozed Mohammed's birthplace.
Christ is a Muslim prophet
That's not likely be much of a consideration for anyone who would spend $450M on a painting.
https://atrpodcast.com/episodes/the-hand-of-leonardo-s1!7616...
edit: fixed link