If all we do is adjust the $30.8 million that Gates paid for it for inflation, that gets us to somewhere around $50 million today. While Hammer was alive, we reported that Oxy shareholders sued three times asking to be reimbursed for what Hammer spent on art and the museum. Pablo Picasso "Garon la pipe" (1905): $142.7 million 8. The inflation adjustment may change as recent inflation rates are often revised. The Louvre and the National Gallery refused to comment for either film. An artist by disposition and endowment, he considered his eyes to be his main avenue to knowledge; to Leonardo, sight was mans highest sense because it alone conveyed the facts of experience immediately, correctly, and with certainty. The painting, which dates to around 1500, was lost to history for more than 200 years, was damaged and badly restored, and was sold and resold as a minor work, probably by a Leonardo acolyte.. Some of the most eye-opening commentary in both films isn't even about art. According to some sources, the painting had been sold by Argentinian art collector Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier for $300 million,[9] but the price was not confirmed by any of the parties involved.[10]. TINDERA: So how much is the Codex worth today? Why do bad things happen to ARCHIVAL CLIP OF ARMAND HAMMER: I guess I'm wearing a great many hats. The Netflix series This Is a Robbery delves into the 1990 theft of masterworks including a Rembrandt from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. It may have been that the rather sophisticated spirit of Neoplatonism prevailing in the Florence of the Medici went against the grain of Leonardos experience-oriented mind and that the more strict, academic atmosphere of Milan attracted him. On permanent display at the Louvre in Paris, the Mona Lisa was assessed at US$100 million on 14 December 1962. Since the museums rarely sell them, they are considered priceless. Last Supper (c. 1495-98) Leonardo da Vinci: Last Supper Images Group/REX/Shutterstock.com. Two years later, some colourful characters entered the game. Five are traditional Chinese paintings by Qi Baishi, Wu Bin, Wang Meng and Xu Yang. Last Supper, Italian Cenacolo, one of the most famous artworks in the world, painted by Leonardo da Vinci probably between 1495 and 1498 for the Dominican monastery Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. His shares were of limited value when he was given them, but by the time of Facebook's IPO they were valued at around $200 million. And how does that help us come up with a number for today? French President Emmanuel Macron pictured in 2018 with the owner of the Leonardo, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (Credit: Photo by Bandar Algaloud/Getty Images), "The Louvre is supported by the government, the ministry of culture and ultimately Macron," Cole tells BBC Culture. Taking inflation into account, the 1962 value would be around US$900 million in 2021. An attempt to psychoanalyze the buyer of Leonardo da Vinci's 'Salvator Mundi.' Tim Schneider , November 17, 2017 The scene at Christie's New York on November 15. He also worked in the next-door workshop of artist Antonio Pollaiuolo. TINDERA: Slicing up and selling off a beautiful manuscript or book is not without precedent, though, Robert explained to us. "As long as this painting is hidden from the world and the future and fate of this painting is unknown, it's going to be clouded in a realm of mystery and the world will be ready to read anything new. One of the most famous paintings in the world, the Last Supper was commissioned by Ludovico Sforza, duke of Milan and Leonardo's patron during his first stay in that city, for the Dominican monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie. People who often would never get a chance to visit the great museums of the world. a 2011 exhibition at the National Gallery in London, Art Bust: Scandalous Stories of the Art World, Kim Kardashian was photographed next to it. (Maybe so, but in the films and other reproduced images it does have a more cloying look). Rybolovlev resold Gauguin's Otahi before 2017 for less than $50 million. ROBERT SIMON: My name is Robert Simon. They bought it from an auction in Louisiana for just over $1,000. But no one thought it was still worth the $30.8 million Gates paid for it. At 18 million in this room. SIMON: My feeling was that the Codex was quite a bit more valuable than any single drawing would be. Nonetheless, the exhibition went a long way toward legitimising a shaky attribution. There's also something called primacy, which is being the first. The Virgin and Child with St Anne by Leonardo da Vinci. Self Portrait by Leonardo da Vinci. Here's how much the artwork is worth! Twenty-eight million dollars, then. St John the Baptist by Leonardo da Vinci. Love film and TV? So it's difficult to get much better than someone who has actually appraised an item. CLIP OF BILL GATES: Taking Leonardo's notebook and translating them so everybody can understand the way that da Vinci thought a little better than before is very important. Because at the end of the day, it's an entertaining story.". Corrections? Leonardo da Vinci, (Italian: "Leonardo from Vinci") (born April 15, 1452, Anchiano, near Vinci, Republic of Florence [Italy]died May 2, 1519, Cloux [now Clos-Luc], France), Italian painter, draftsman, sculptor, architect, and engineer whose skill and intelligence, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance humanist Georgia O'Keeffe holds the record for the highest price paid for a painting by a woman. But now the Salvator Mundi has become the poster boy for the volatile mix of money, power and geopolitics that defines the art world today. At that time this was the 4th highest (unadjusted) price at auction and 10th highest price on this list. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. This sale tripled the previous record, and introduced a new era in top art sales. The Burlington House Cartoon by Leonardo da Vinci. A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Future, Culture, Worklife and Travel, delivered to your inbox every Friday. In New York last night, he said he had never doubted the piece would break records. (or simply Leonardo) (Leonardo diser Piero ser da Vinci) (Italian, 1452-1519). At the press conference, Artnews reported, Gouzer spoke of the exceptional rarity of a work by Leonardo. The most famous paintings, especially old master works created before 1803, are generally owned or held at museums, for viewing by patrons. However, we should probably note that it seems unlikely that as the owner of the Codex, Gates would actually do this. Scholars have been unable to agree in their attributions of these works. We asked Robert, if the Codex if it went up for sale again, could it compete with the Mundi's price? As a master artist, Leonardo maintained an extensive workshop in Milan, employing apprentices and students. On the last telephone, 18 million. Record private sales are believed to include $250m for a painting by Paul Czanne and $300m for a Paul Gauguin. What was Leonardo da Vincis family like? Or is it? He needed to do that because in order to pay the inheritance taxes on a previous Earl of Leicester, who died in 1976, they needed to sell off some stuff. Please select which sections you would like to print: Director, Central Institute for the History of Art, Munich, 194770. Before Rybolovlev, Salvator Mundi had been owned by a consortium of dealers including Alexander Parish, who had picked it up for $10,000 at an estate sale in the US in 2005, and had had it restored and authenticated. A Belgian banker and collector who bought it in 1939 for $18,000. So, I think we could legitimately set the floor at that price. PETERSON-WITHORN: And the fifth was a drawing by Michelangelo called The Holy Family with the Infant St. John the Baptist, which also sold to the Getty Museum in 1993, for $6.3 million. In the past year two documentaries, the engaging Made You Look and the pedestrian Driven to Abstraction, tackled the case of the Knoedler Gallery in New York, which for nearly two decades sold forgeries supposedly by 20th-Century masters including Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock. The world's most expensive painting to sell at auction is Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi, which sold for $450.3 million on November 15, 2017 at Christie's.Shattering previous records and exceeding auction expectations, the sale underscored market demand for the artist's rare auction appearances, and the competition among collectors to own a work of such caliber and distinction. $50 million through Sothebys in 1997. PETERSON-WITHORN: Two were da Vinci drawings of draperies. "When we chose the title," Andreas Dalsgaard, a producer and a writer of The Lost Leonardo, tells BBC Culture, "the inspiration was partly that the painting is lost right now and the truth is lost, but it was also inspired by movies like the Indiana Jones movies that are full of treasures and treasure hunts.". But many experts on camera and elsewhere in the press think he leapt to an early conclusion. Is it even a Leonardo at all? Knowingly or not? The subjects range from Inigo Philbrick, criminally charged with defrauding clients by selling more than 100% of shares in artworks, to a golden Egyptian coffin whose smuggled past came to light after Kim Kardashian was photographed next to it at the Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute gala. As everyone who does not live in utter isolation knows, a painting of Christ known as the "Salvator Mundi" ("Savior of the World") by the Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci was. The abrupt $20m and $30m jumps in price were indeed unusual, Cerutti confirmed. July 8, 2021. Portrait of a Man in Red Chalk Drawing by Leonardo da Vinci. CLIP OF BILL GATES: So here, you're just seeing the page exactly as it looked to da Vinci. If one drawing sold for $12 million, that would mean that he could sell off this whole book clipped to pieces and earn something like $4 billion. The painting disappeared from 1763 until 1900, when it was bought by Sir Charles Robinson as a work by Bernardino Luini, a follower of Leonardo. So, they decided to hold an auction through Christie's, and it took place in London in December 1980. Trained in Florence as a painter and sculptor in the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio (1435-1488), Leonardo is also celebrated for his scientific contributions. Leonardo da Vincis parents were unmarried at the time of his birth near a small village named Vinci in Tuscany. According to a CNBC report, the median net worth of someone who is 66 years old, which is Gates' age is about $266,000. The writings in his notebooks suggest that he may have been a vegetarian, and there is also some speculation that he may have been gay. Alison Cole, editor of The Art Newspaper, has written extensively about the painting and saw it at the National Gallery. 1 for US$44.4 million (equivalent to US$50.8million in 2021). Its the zenith of my career as an auctioneer. Mona Lisa. An exceptional case is graffiti artist David Choe, who accepted payment in shares for painting graffiti art in the headquarters of a fledgling Facebook. That these tales can work in a podcast, where no one can even see the work being described, suggests how much the allure of today's art-crime stories is in the skulduggery and mystery, not aesthetics. During this first Milanese period he also made one of his most famous works, the monumental wall painting Last Supper (149598) in the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie (for more analysis of this work, see below Last Supper). This wall painting in the Dominican monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan, allowed Leonardo to explore how the body communicates inner states of being. The sale generated a sustained 20 minutes of tense telephone bidding as the auctioneer Jussi Pylkknen juggled rival suitors before a packed crowd of excited onlookers in the salesroom. This stands as the most expensive painting by a living artist. So if Saudi Arabia decides that culture is going to be the way it opens up and the Salvator Mundi is going to be a key player in that strategy and the Louvre is offering to exhibit it, then all those things are tied up together.". 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Rauschenberg at Christie's", A Warhol Leads a Night of Soaring Prices at Christies, Andy Warhol's "Triple Elvis" auction results, "Basquiat's In This Case headlines Christie's inaugural 21st Century Evening Sale at $93,105,000". And to put into perspective, how much less art sold for 40 years ago, the sale of the Codex was the fifth-highest price for any piece of art sold at auction ever. His curiosity and insatiable hunger for knowledge never left him. Two of his most important worksthe Battle of Anghiari and the Leda, neither of them completedhave survived only in copies. It's now been determined that his painting is not, in fact, a da Vinci. And Lewis points out that as the art market has enlarged, our world view itself has changed. PETERSON-WITHORN: After the auction, he told the press, I'm very happy with the price. As he would throughout his life, Leonardo set boundless goals for himself; if one traces the outlines of his work for this period, or for his life as a whole, one is tempted to call it a grandiose unfinished symphony.. The buyer was anonymous, but the New York Times soon revealed him to be acting for bin Salman, a discovery that catapulted the painting into the geopolitical realm. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. PETERSON-WITHORN: And in fact, that fall he had just appeared atop our Forbes 400 ranking of the richest Americans, with an estimated net worth of $9.35 billion. He had just gotten married to Melinda Gates on New Year's Day of that year and was in the middle of building his multi-million-dollar mega mansion, Xanadu 2.0. The current record price is approximately US$450.3 million (which includes commission), paid for Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi (c.1500). He's the head of the Books, Maps and Manuscripts department at Freeman's Auction House in Philadelphia. Apparently, Hammer had made a habit of buying things with Occidental Petroleum money. The Annunciation by Leonardo da Vinci. A jump to $370. I'll give everyone time. (According to contemporary sources, Leonardo was commissioned to create three more pictures, but these works have since disappeared or were never done.) After his death, Hammer's estate became tied up in a series of new lawsuits that began with the niece of Hammer's late wife suing for a piece of his art collection and other assets. Probably, they knew there was room before the end of the competition., They wanted to get the job done quicker, but it still took a long time.. The Met has since returned the coffin to Egypt. SIMON: These went into the mix. 1503-1519). One of the sources says the Louvre concluded that Leonardo merely "contributed to the painting," but that bin Salman would only approve the loan if the Salvator Mundi were labelled an authentic Leonardo. So that was kind of the basic first principle. Months earlier, he had appeared on the cover of Forbes, and he was a member of our very first Forbes 400 ranking. The earliest sale on the list below (Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh) is from March 1987; with a price of 24.75 million (74.1 million in 2021 currency). They brought it to Dianne Modestini, a highly respected restorer, who removed decades of grime and overpainting, and was the first to suspect it might be a true Leonardo. Saviour for Sale opens in the US on 17 September. Therell never be another painting that I shall sell for more than this painting tonight.. This is the mirror where we flip it around, and now here it is in English. 1. And so, you've got the painting itself is you know, much more of a rare object. TINDERA: That average of every expert opinion worked out to about $130 million. That sold for $3.6 million at Sotheby's in New York in 1986. [13][14], Among the listed top 89, only six are paintings by non-Western artists. TINDERA: Okay, so our $4 billion estimate isn't all that realistic. Oprah Winfrey had bought the painting in November 2006 at Christie's for nearly $88 million. Among Leonardos pupils at this time were Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, Ambrogio de Predis, Bernardino de Conti, Francesco Napoletano, Andrea Solari, Marco dOggiono, and Salai. He also considered a painting done by Renaissance artist Pontormo, which was purchased by the Jay Paul Getty Museum for $35.2 million at Christie's in 1989. And if Gates himself had the Codex appraised since he bought it. She was universally considered to be the painter's sitter. We reported that same year that Gates envied his friend Warren Buffett, because he had more time to spend reading than Gates did. That is still a question. The paintings transferred to the dealers include a late, Alan Bond could not pay off the painting, and. He applied his creativity to every realm in which graphic representation is used: he was a painter, sculptor, architect, and engineer. PETERSON-WITHORN: And in fact, that fall he had just appeared atop our Forbes 400 ranking of the richest Americans, with an estimated net worth of $9.35 billion. [8] The actual purchase price was not disclosed, because of a confidentiality agreement attached to the private sale. Also of note is the decorative ceiling painting (1498) he made for the Sala delle Asse in the Milan Castello Sforzesco. TINDERA: On sale is a one-of-a kind Leonardo da Vinci manuscript known as the Codex Hammer. TINDERA: Hammer is also the great-grandfather of Hollywood actor Armie Hammer. He told us via email that his guess would be, "over $100 million." The rest are owned by museums around the world. In this episode of Priceless, staff writer Michela Tindera and deputy wealth editor Chase Peterson-Withorn explain how Forbes determines the value of a one-of-a-kind Leonardo da Vinci manuscript that Bill Gates purchased in 1994. [15] Not listed here in this list is Chinese painter Wang Shaofei's The High Sun, which was appraised for $74 million in 2017.[16]. Leonardo grew up on his fathers familys estate, where he was treated as a legitimate son and received the usual elementary education of the day: reading, writing, and arithmetic. That's because da Vinci wrote it backwards, which is what he did for much of what he wrote. Leonardo Da Vinci 1503 It was kept it at the Palace at Fontainebleau, where it remained until King Louis XIV moved the painting to the Palace of Versailles. And so, the first place we looked were the auction records for the Codex from the 1980 and the 1994 sales.