The da Vinci code

11 October 2017 By Richard Beales Follow @richardbeales1

That’s the estimate on the only Leonardo painting today’s billionaires will ever be able to bid for. It’ll attract collectors and lovers of scarcity and quality, and perhaps science geeks: the pre-auction tour includes San Francisco. The old master could easily set a new bar.

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Christie’s will offer for sale the only known Leonardo da Vinci painting in private hands, the auction group said on Oct. 10.

The artist’s “Salvator Mundi,” dating from around 1500, will be included in the Christie’s New York Evening Sale of Post-War and Contemporary Art on Nov. 15. The work depicting Jesus Christ as the savior of the world is one of fewer than 20 known paintings by the master. When it re-emerged from a period of obscurity in 2005, it became the first discovery of a Leonardo painting since 1909.

The auctioneer’s estimate for the sale price is in the region of $100 million.

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