Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait of Christ “Salvator Mundi” has sold for a record-smashing $450.3 million at Christie’s in New York, more than double the old mark for any work of art at auction.
It sold for just $60 in 1958.
Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi, a 500-year-old oil painting of Jesus, went under the hammer in New York on Wednesday. It sold at four times over its pre-sale estimate and more than double the old mark for any work of art at auction.
It's is the last privately owned Da Vinci painting and one of fewer than 20 by the Renaissance artist known to exist.
Its whereabouts were unknown until it reemerged in poor condition in a Louisiana auction house in 2005.
The painting has since been restored and was on display in London last month before arriving in New York for the auction.