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7 December 2017 By Richard Beales Follow @richardbeales1

Crown Prince Mohammed bought the $450 mln “Salvator Mundi,” a report says. The heir to an absolute monarchy professes to be a reformer and corruption fighter, yet is spending with unseen extravagance. That may not go down well at home, or with potential investors in Aramco.

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Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, is the buyer of a painting by Leonardo da Vinci that sold for a record $450 million last month, the Wall Street Journal reported on Dec. 7, citing U.S. government intelligence and an art-world figure familiar with the purchase.

Other media had named a distant relative of the crown prince as the buyer, but the Journal reported that he was acting as a proxy.

The new branch of the Louvre in Abu Dhabi will exhibit Leonardo’s portrait of Christ, “Salvator Mundi,” according to the museum’s twitter feed on Dec. 6. The work, which was auctioned at Christie’s in New York last month, is the most expensive painting ever sold.

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