Painting of Christ, Salvator Mundi, in Latin means Saviour of the world, is one of the famous painting of Italian Artist Leonardo Da Vinci since 1500C.
Since centuries, this painting was preserved in the Royal Collection of the British Royal Family. There was a common perception that the painting has lost its originality over a period of time.
But eventually, the painting was presented in London National Gallery in 2011 after putting in lots of work to restore and rediscover the original painting. Many art lovers deny that this painting depicts what was originally crafted by Leonardo Da Vinci but still this painting was able to become the most expensive painting ever sold in history.
In New York, Christie’s were able to secure $450 Million in 19 minutes bidding process at the auction. Surprisingly, the buyer was Saudi Prince Badr Bin Abdullah Bin Muhammad Bin Farhan Al Saud who has not been seen much in collecting any famous artwork in the past.
It has been reported that Saudi Prince placed $100 million before attending the auction to confirm his spot in the auction. However, the Saudi Embassy has denied such reports.
The speculations developed around Salvator Mundi has developed because, since Auction, this painting has never been seen in public. Saudi Prince had bought the painting on behalf of the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism in November 2017.
It was stated that Salvator Mundi would be exhibited at Louvre Abu Dhabi but unveiling has not occurred till date. Also, no date has been announced by the authorities for displaying the historical painting.
The world is concerned with the painting whereabouts and it is assumed that the painting has been lost by the crown prince or hasn’t been properly stored. But the actual situation is only known by close friends of Royal Family which has been kept secret.
The most recent conspiracy has come to the surface that all this drama of Salvator Mundi is related to Russiagate and Internationally money laundering occurred. The Russian Owner of the painting Dmitry Rybolovlev knew that the Arabs are going to be present at the auction and he created a hype in the bidding of Salvator Mundi.
Saudia and Dubai’s Royal Families wanted to make a statement about their wealth and they purchased the controversial painting for 450 Million Dollars, 300 million more than the original price. The wealth generated through this auction was transferred to help Donald Trump’s election campaign with the help of the Israeli Intelligence Agency Psy Group.
This conspiracy theory has been popularly rejected by the art world that why would reputed individuals choose a highly anticipated painting of Leonardo Da Vinci. The world was looking upon the auction and this was not a feasible chance to transfer funds for political ambitions.
There could be a hundred more ways if Arabs would have been looking to sponsor Trump’s election campaign. Moreover, it’s just a conspiracy theory speculated by Narativ Blog, no evidence that Salvator Mundi is connected to Russiagate has been put forward.
