Thread by @WendySiegelman

Wow - the Salvator Mundi painting that was sold by Dmitry Rybolovlev at Sotheby's in Nov 2017 for a record-breaking $450 million to Saudi Crown Prince MBS can't be confirmed as an authentic da Vinci painting, per experts at the Louvre

HT @Matthew_Shadle

theartnewspaper.com/news/salvator-…

https://twitter.com/RachelDonadio/status/1379780443097210884

The real reason why the Salvator Mundi didn't make it into the Louvre's Leonardo show - a film by Antoine Vitkine, screening next week in France, sheds new light on the political machinations surrounding the world's most controversial painting, by
theartnewspaper.com/news/salvator-…

I started following this story before the auction, when ironically there was speculation the painting bought by Rybolovlev for $127.5 million might sell for $100mil

Dmitry Rybolovlev bought a FL mansion from Trump in '08 for $95mil, double what Trump paid

https://twitter.com/WendySiegelman/status/918454422702784513?s=20

The new film builds upon earlier reporting that the Salvator Mundi, the world’s most expensive painting, was not on view because it was not painted by da Vinci, but by a pupil

https://twitter.com/WendySiegelman/status/1072571191427256325?s=20

The price of the painting was driven up by a bidding war between anonymous Saudi and UAE bidders, both claimed they thought they were bidding against Qatari ruling family. After painting was purchased for MBS, it was reportedly swapped with UAE for a yacht

https://twitter.com/WendySiegelman/status/1024660523919581184?s=20

Correction to the original tweet - should say Christie's not Sotheby's

https://twitter.com/WendySiegelman/status/1379822189948628999?s=20