Art Thriller: THE LOST LEONARDO
WDCB’s Gary Zidek reviews the new documentary, THE LOST LEONARDO.
LISTEN
The fascinating story of the most expensive painting ever purchased at auction is the subject of the new documentary, THE LOST LEONARDO. The film plays out like a well-crafted scripted thriller, except everything shown on screen actually happened. Danish filmmaker Andreas Koefoed masterfully distills a complex story into something captivating, without dumbing it down.
The documentary follows the journey of SALVATOR MUNDI, a “lost” painting believed to be made by Leonardo da Vinci. The story begins with two American art dealers, who in 2005 buy an obscure painting of Jesus Christ at an auction in New Orleans for the grand sum of $1,175. Twelve years later that same item sells at auction for a record $450 million. That in it of itself is a fascinating set-up that should intrigue viewers to find out what happened in between those two purchases. The scope of the story that’s told in THE LOST LEONARDO exceeds those expectations, introducing an eclectic cast of characters including: respected museum curators, sassy art critics, savvy bank executives, a shady Swiss art dealer, a Russian oligarch, CIA agents and a Saudi prince.
Auctioneer Jussi Pylkkänen at the Salvator Mundi auction on November 15, 2017 in New York City. Photo credit: Eduardo Munoz Alvare
The documentary does a phenomenal job tying together a number of distinct threads into a cohesive, easy to understand narrative. Koefoed is careful not to take sides, there’s no agenda in play and no clear answers are provided. We still don’t know who really painted SALVATOR MUNDI and we don’t where the physical work actually is.
What is conveyed is this slightly horrifying portrait of the ways money can influence ideas and ultimately the truth. When everyone is making money on the back of story people want to be true, no one is eager to end the gravy train. The collectors, art dealers, the museums that were seeing increased visitor numbers, the media that was covering the story and of course the auction houses, they all made a lot of money from the discovery, exhibition and sales of the SALVATOR MUNDI.
A restoration to fix a crack in the Salvator Mundi in 2006. Image courtesy of Sony Pictures
