ABOUT SALVATOR MUNDI
THE STORY
Salvator Mundi (Latin for ''Savior of the World'') is a painting attributed in whole or in part to the Italian High Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci, dated to c. 1499–1510. Long thought to be a copy of a lost original veiled with overpainting, it was rediscovered, restored by Dianne Dwyer Modestini, Clinical Professor at the Institute of Art, NYU, and included in Luke Syson's major Leonardo exhibition at the National Gallery, London, in 2011-12. Christies claimed just after selling the work that most leading scholars consider it to be an original work by Leonardo, endorsed by Martin Kemp, one of the world’s leading authorities on the life and works of Leonardo da Vinci, but this attribution has been disputed by other specialists, some of whom posit that he only contributed certain elements.
In 2005, a Salvator Mundi was presented and acquired at an auction for US $1,175 by a consortium of art dealers that included Alexander Parrish and Robert Simon, a specialist in Old Masters. It was sold from the estate of Baton Rouge businessman Basil Clovis Hendry Sr., (who bought it for 45 UK Pounds -US $100 in 1958). It had been heavily overpainted, to the point where the painting resembled a copy, and was, before restoration, described as "a wreck, dark and gloomy“. Alexander Parrish and Robert Simon commissioned Dianne Dwyer Modestini at New York University to oversee the restoration, which she completed in 2007.
In May 2013, Russian oligarch, Dmitry Rybolovlev hired Swiss dealer Yves Bouvier to purchase the painting. Bouvier bought it for just over US$75 million in a private sale brokered by Sotheby's, New York. 48 Hours later Bouvier sold it to Rybolovlev for US$127.5 million. The price that Rybolovlev paid was therefore significantly higher, well beyond the 2 percent commission Bouvier was supposed to receive, according to Rybolovlev himself. Consequently, this sale—along with several other sales Bouvier made to Rybolovlev—created a legal dispute between Rybolovlev and Bouvier, as well as between the original dealers of the painting and Sotheby's. In 2016, the dealers sued Sotheby's for the difference of the sale, arguing they were shortchanged. The auction house has denied knowing that Rybolovlev was the intended buyer and sought to dismiss the lawsuit. In 2018, Rybolovlev also sued Sotheby's for $380 million, alleging the auction house knowingly participated in a defrauding scheme by Bouvier, in which the painting played a part.
On November 15, 2017, the painting was then sold at auction for US$450.3 million by Christie's in New York to Prince Badr bin Abdullah, setting a new record for most expensive painting ever sold at public auction. Prince Badr allegedly made the purchase on behalf of Abu Dhabi's Department of Culture and Tourism, but it has since been posited that he may have been a stand-in bidder for his close ally and Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. This follows late-2017 reports that the painting would be put on display at the Louvre Abu Dhabi and the unexplained cancellation of its scheduled September 2018 unveiling. The current location of the painting has been reported as unknown, but a June 2019 report stated that it was being stored on bin Salman's yacht, pending completion of a cultural center in Al-`Ula and an October 2019 report indicated it may be in storage in Switzerland.
Source Wikipedia
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ABOUT MONA LISA
THE STORY
The Mona Lisa (/ˌmoʊnə ˈliːsə/; Italian: Gioconda [dʒoˈkonda] or Monna Lisa [ˈmɔnna ˈliːza]; French: Joconde [ʒɔkɔ̃d]) is a half-length portrait painting by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, it has been described as "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world".[6] The painting's novel qualities include the subject's enigmatic expression, the monumentality of the composition, the subtle modelling of forms, and the atmospheric illusionism.
The painting is probably of the Italian noblewoman Lisa Gherardini,[9] the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, and is in oil on a white Lombardy poplar panel. Leonardo never gave the painting to the Giocondo family, and later it is believed he left it in his will to his favored apprentice Salaì. It had been believed to have been painted between 1503 and 1506; however, Leonardo may have continued working on it as late as 1517. It was acquired by King Francis I of France and is now the property of the French Republic itself, on permanent display at the Louvre, Paris since 1797.
The Mona Lisa is one of the most valuable paintings in the world. It holds the Guinness World Record for the highest known insurance valuation in history at US$100 million in 1962 (equivalent to $870 million in 2021).
Source: Wikipedia
ABOUT JOHN MARSHALL
John Marshall ( 12 February 1952 - ) http://mylastleonardo.com is a contemporary realist painter who lives and works in Stoney Creek, Ontario Canada. A native of Dublin Ireland, his realistic paintings pay compliments to his subjects. John’s distinctive personal style in reproducing Old Master paintings, particularly Leonardo da Vinci, emanates from the life and soul of the original masterpiece and expresses the vibrant spirit and atmosphere of the master himself.
Apart from Old Masters, John’s innate talent captures landscapes and people which are all brought to life with contrasting and harmonious colors and bold compositions. As John explains, “I want to look into the soul of the subject and be immersed in it’s heart and spirit.”
The term Old Master is used to identify an eminent European artist from the approximate period 1300 to 1800 and includes artists from the Early Renaissance through to the Romantic movement. The most famous works by Old Masters are characterized by innovation in technique and style as well as a drive to create believable figures and landscapes through the realistic representation of perspective and proportion.
Throughout his life, John has always been fascinated by the history of art and how the world is represented through the eyes of others. John graduated from the National College of Art in Dublin and studied art in Paris France.
From 2013 to 2019, John received multiple advertising global awards for his patented new advertising innovation that attracted some of the biggest names to implement his new digital technology.
