Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Painting, Salvator Mundi, To Be Auctioned

Did you ever want to possess a Leonardo da Vinci painting? If yes, this could be your last chance. Da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi will be auctioned by Christie’s at the Rockefeller Plaza in New York City on Nov. 15, 2017.

One of the 15 significant artworks by the artist, Salvator Mundi translated as "Savior of the World," was believed to have been lost, until it was rediscovered in 2005. However, the confirmation of its authenticity was done only in 2011. It is also estimated that the painting which fetched just £45 ($60) at a sale at Sotheby’s auction in London in 1958, will be sold at the auction for an estimate of $100m this year.

The painting that dates back to around 1500, nearly the same time as the Mona Lisa was painted, depicts Jesus Christ in royal blue robes against a dark background holding a glass orb in his left hand. The painting is also known as the “male Mona Lisa” because of its similarities to the Mona Lisa painting.

The historic painting has a fascinating history. The Guardian reported that the painting once belonged to King Charles I of England, and later his son, Charles II in the 17th century. After that, there was no record of it for 140 years. In 1900 it was bought by Sir Charles Robinson as a work by Bernardino Luini, a follower of da Vinci. The painting next appeared at a Sotheby’s auction in 1958 and then again disappeared until it was purchased at a small regional auction house in the U.S. by a consortium of American businesspeople in 2005.

According to the Guardian, Loic Gouzer, Christie’s chair of postwar and contemporary art in New York, said bringing this painting to the market was a "once in a lifetime" honor.

Alan Wintermute, a senior specialist in old master paintings at Christie’s, called the painting the "holy grail" of old masters. "To see a fully finished, late masterpiece by Leonardo, made at the peak of his genius, appear for sale in 2017 is as close as I’ve come to an art world miracle," Wintermute told the Guardian. "It has been more than a century since the last such painting turned up and this opportunity will not come again in our lifetime. I can hardly convey how exciting it is for those of us directly involved in its sale," he added

Art critic Alastair Sooke described it in similar terms. "Discovering a new painting by Leonardo is a bit like finding a new planet," he says. "During the course of his career, which lasted for around half a century, Leonardo probably began work on no more than 20 paintings, and only 15 have survived that art historians generally agree are entirely his," Sooke said, according to Christie’s website.

Before the sale, Christie’s will tour this exceptional painting to key locations around the world, including San Francisco (Oct. 18-20) and London (Oct. 24-26), prior to an extended exhibition in New York (Oct. 28 to Nov. 4). The painting was exhibited in Hong Kong from Oct. 13-16.