The saga of Salvator Mundi and its whereabouts is still one of the art world’s biggest mysteries, so any nugget of info relating to its fate and location is eagerly seized on (mainly by us). The painting, attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, sold for $450m at Christie’s in New York in 2017, making it the world’s most expensive work of art. It was purchased by the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (or MBS as he’s been dubbed), though his identity was only revealed to the public through later press reports. Salvator Mundi has not been seen in public since the 2017 sale, despite Christie’s saying at the time of the auction that it would go on display at the Louvre Abu Dhabi.
However, the BBC reports today that the elusive depiction of Christ is (drum roll) in storage in Geneva. Bernard Haykel, a friend of the crown prince and Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, says that despite rumours that Salvator Mundi hangs in the prince's yacht or palace, the painting is actually in storage in the Swiss city, and that MBS intends to hang it in a museum in Riyadh that has not yet been built. “I want to build a very large museum in Riyadh,” Haykel quotes MBS as saying. “And I want an anchor object that will attract people, just like the Mona Lisa does.”
The BBC profile doesn’t hold back, saying that “MBS’s purchase of a famous painting in 2017 tells us much about how he thinks, and his willingness to be a risk-taker, unafraid to be out of step with the religiously conservative society that he governs. And above all, determined to outplay the West in conspicuous displays of power.”
Coincidentally, Hartwig Fischer, the former director of the British Museum who resigned last year after a devastating theft scandal, was recently appointed as the founding director of a new museum of world cultures in Riyadh, according to a statement from the Saudi Museums Commission. The museum is due to open in 2026.
Could this be the Leonardo work's final destination? We can but wonder….
