Police return a stolen copy of the world's most expensive painting to the museum

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The Italian police managed to return to the Museum of Naples a copy of the most expensive painting in the world - "The Savior of the World", painted by Leonardo da Vinci. According to CNN, the stolen painting was found at the home of a local resident who is currently being taken into custody.

Today it is not known exactly who the author of the copy is, but scientists believe that the canvas belongs to the brush of one of da Vinci's students, and was painted during the life of the great master in 1510.

The police reports do not indicate exactly when the painting disappeared from the museum, but it is known for certain that at the beginning of January 2021 it was still seen in the museum's exposition.

Recall that the painting by da Vinci "Savior of the World" in 2017 was bought by Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan Al Saud from Saudi Arabia for 450.3 million dollars, which became a new record - the canvas was called the most expensive in the world. The previous owner of the painting was a billionaire from Russia Dmitry Rybolovlev.

It was rumored in art circles that the painting, acquired by the Saudi prince, was on the Serene yacht and would remain there until the Saudi Arabian authorities erected a cultural center in the El Ula region in El Madinah province, where the painting was supposed to be exhibited. Recently, the yacht on which the painting is supposedly kept was spotted in the area of the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

The painting "Savior of the World", according to contemporary art critics, was painted around 1500. It was first mentioned in connection with the collection of Charles I of England (1600-1649). The second mention dates back to 1763, when the illegitimate son of the Earl of Buckingham, Carl Sheffield, put the painting up for auction.

It is worth saying that not only a number of scandals are associated with this picture, but also secrets that modern scientists and art critics are trying to unravel. So, recently it was reported that scientists from the University of California have revealed the secret of the transparent ball in the hand of Christ, symbolizing the universe. For this, they created a three-dimensional model of the painting.

Scientists managed to establish that the object depicted in the picture is a hollow sphere with a diameter of 6, 8 centimeters made of glass with a thickness of no more than 1, 3 millimeters. Christ holds the ball about 25 cm from his body.

Since the ball in the picture practically does not distort the space behind it, art critics had a lot of controversy and doubts, because it is known that da Vinci was not only an artist, but also an inventor and studied optics.

One of the researchers, American biographer Walter Isaacson, stated that the artist sought to endow the figure of Christ and the ball in his hands with magical properties, because if he conveyed the image accurately, then the palm behind the sphere would be distorted, and the artist could not help knowing this.

Today it is believed that 15 paintings have survived to our time, except for drawings and frescoes that were painted by Leonardo da Vinci. 5 paintings by the great master are kept in the Louvre, one in the Old Pinakothek (Munich), another one in the Uffizi (Florence), the Czartoryski Museum (Krakow), London and Washington National Galleries, as well as in other less famous museums. Russia holds second place in this issue after France.