How did a 120-meter painting become a 320-meter Leonardo and then pass out?
The National Gallery faces controversy over its role in the tangled story of how the worlds most expensive painting came out of obscurity before being sold for 320m, only to fade from the public eye again . The gallery exhibited the Salvator Mundi in his Leonardo da Vinci exhibition ten years ago, when it was an unknown work with doubts about its attribution, restoration and ownership. The criticisms are voiced in a major documentary film that lifts the veil on some of the darkest deals in the art market. Professor Bernd Lindemann, then director of the Gemldegalerie in Berlin, tells the filmmakers: I was surprised to see the painting in the exhibition at the National Gallery. Its a problematic painting, and I think its not the role of serious museums to present a painting that is so heavily discussed. The Gemdegalerie, which has one of the largest collections of European paintings in the world, was among the owners of public and private collections contacted by the former owners of paintings, a consortium of dealers struggling to find a buyer. In the documentary, The lost Leonardo, Lindemann remembers the approach, and that he was not impressed that the image had been so extensively reworked by a conservator. One day I received a phone call. He was a dealer and he said he has something that could be of interest to the Gemdegalerie. It was painting. Most of the painting is a remake and that was, for me, the argument to say: No, this is not a painting for the Gemdegalerie. A still from the documentary film The Lost Leonardo. Photography: Mantaray Film  The National Gallery unveiled the painting in its Leonardo 2011 exhibition. While there is an unwritten rule that public galleries should not display images available for sale, one of the former owners insisted that they were not for sale when the exhibition was announced. Hanging an unknown painting in such a prestigious institution would have done wonders for its market value. The location of the paintings cannot be traced until 1900, when it was sold as the work of Leonardos disciple Bernardino Luini for 120. When it was purchased in 2005 by dealers Alexander Parrish and Robert Simon for 1,175 $, it was seriously damaged and Dianne Modestini began work on a restoration program so extensive it lasted from 2005 to 2017. It was then sold at Christies New York for a record $ 450 million ($ 320 million) in 2017, before disappearing without a trace. The doubts about it only intensified, the Louvre in Paris having then demoted it to the work of a less contemporary hand. The documentary, released in theaters later this year, explores how paintings planned for the 2019 Louvres hit exhibition were canceled. In an interview, Jacques Franck, a Leonardo expert, recalls writing to President Macron, warning that the Louvre should not show him as a real Leonardo. The film reveals that the decisions were taken at the highest level, involving the French president. While some scholars remain convinced by the image, others dismiss it as the work of an assistant or conservator, Modestini, who defends herself in the documentary. Michael Daley, Director of ArtWatch UK, who researched the Salvator Mundi widely, agreed that the National Gallery should never have exhibited the painting as Leonardo: You dont punt an exhibition. The lost Leonardo was directed by award-winning Danish filmmaker Andreas Koefoed. It shows how, in 2013, Yves Bouvier, artistic advisor and freeport owner, bought the work for $ 83 million and sold it to Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev for $ 127.5 million, making a huge profit. in less than 48 hours. Bouvier is then accused by Rybolovlev of having defrauded him. Bouvier recalls having acquired the Salvator Mundi: We invited the owners of the tableau to Paris and, to lead the negotiations, I hired a friend of mine who is a former poker player. Because a poker player can read the opponent. The documentary exposes the dark transactions of a trade where the free port of Geneva alone holds billions of dollars in art. Doug Patteson, a former CIA officer, tells the filmmakers: The story of the Salvator Mundi and how its value has grown opens eyes to how money can flow in different ways through the free port system, a tax-free haven where the very wealthy will often keep things a secret from the tax authorities. . Auction for the Salvator Mundi at Christies New York, 2017. Photograph: Timothy A Clary / AFP / Getty Images  Other people interviewed included Robert King Wittman, founder of the FBI Art Crime Team, who said of the Salvator Mundis record price: why someone would pay that kind of money for a play that asked about it is very strange. This particular painting is not worth what we paid for it. So there is a suspicious aspect. And the provenance is very cloudy. Since 2017, the location of the photos has remained a mystery. It is believed to belong to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman. The National Gallery, Christies, the Louvre and Saudi Arabia refused to participate in the documentary. The National Gallery declined to comment.