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How Did a $1,175 Leonardo 'Copy' Sell for $450 Million?

In 2005 a small New Orleans auction house sold a dark, overpainted panel as a copy of a Leonardo. Twelve years later it became the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction, and much of the case rested on a thumb.

By the Expensive Explained team · · 4 min read

The short version

Leonardo's students and followers copied his Salvator Mundi many times, and this panel was so heavily overpainted that it was sold as one of those copies. When a restorer cleaned it, she found the blessing thumb had first been painted in a different position, a change that none of the known copies show and that supporters of the attribution read as Leonardo changing his mind. After the National Gallery in London showed it as a Leonardo in 2011, its price went from $1,175 to $80 million, then $127.5 million, then $450.3 million at Christie's in 2017.

A record set by a painting once sold as a copy

On November 15, 2017, Christie's in New York sold a small oil painting of Christ raising one hand in blessing and holding a crystal orb in the other. The bidding lasted 19 minutes. A buyer bidding by telephone won it with a hammer price of $400 million. With $50,312,500 in fees added, the total came to $450,312,500, making it the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction.

The painting is the Salvator Mundi, or Savior of the World, oil on a walnut panel from around 1500, about 26 by 18 inches. Christie's sold it as a work by Leonardo da Vinci. Twelve years earlier, the same panel had been catalogued as only "After Leonardo da Vinci," which is how auction houses describe a copy.

Why everyone thought it was one of the copies

The Salvator Mundi is one of Leonardo's most copied compositions. A National Gallery statement from 2011 mentioned more than 20 known painted versions, and the dealer Robert Simon counted at least thirty copies and variations by Leonardo's pupils and followers. For centuries the original was thought to be lost. The only versions anyone knew were the copies.

This panel was hard to recognize. It had been heavily overpainted, and one expert called it "a wreck, dark and gloomy." All trace of it vanished until 1900, when Sir Frederick Cook bought it, by which time nobody remembered it might be Leonardo's. When the Cook collection was broken up in 1958, Sotheby's London sold it for £45, attributed to Leonardo's pupil Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio. Sources disagree on whether it was called a copy after Boltraffio or a work by him, but either way it was filed as studio work, and that attribution lasted until 2011.

In April 2005 it came up at St. Charles Gallery, a small auction house in New Orleans, as lot 664, "After Leonardo da Vinci," with an estimate of $1,200 to $1,800. A pair of art dealers bought it for $1,175, reported as a $1,000 winning bid plus $175 in commission. That was about a tenth of the $11,750 average price of a used car at a US franchised dealership that year.

The thumb that was painted twice

The new owners sent the panel to the restorer Dianne Modestini, who started work in late 2006. As she removed the later paint, an earlier position of the blessing hand's thumb came into view, painted more upright than in the finished picture. Infrared photographs confirmed it. Painters call this kind of correction a pentimento, from the Italian word for repentance.

That detail mattered because of the copies. The art historian Martin Kemp has pointed out that every copy shows the thumb tucked in, never straight. He called what the cleaning found "a kind of ghost thumb that's straight." The National Gallery's 2011 statement said these pentimenti were not reflected in the etching or other copies and called them crucial evidence for Leonardo's authorship.

The reasoning is simple. A copyist reproduces the finished image. Only the artist working out the composition has a reason to paint a thumb, then move it. Supporters of the attribution describe the changes as real revisions rather than the small adjustments a copyist would make.

From a museum wall to $450 million

In 2008 experts examined the panel at the National Gallery in London, and the museum's director studied it next to the gallery's Virgin of the Rocks. From November 2011 to February 2012 it was shown as a Leonardo in the exhibition "Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan." Being hung as a Leonardo in a major museum gave it standing that a dealer's claim alone could not.

The prices climbed quickly after that. In 2013 the painting sold privately for $80 million, and within days it was resold for $127.5 million. Then in 2017 came the Christie's sale. The $450.3 million total was more than Boeing's 2019 list price for a brand-new 747-8 jumbo jet.

What the price does and doesn't prove

A record price doesn't settle who painted the picture. Some scholars still disagree. Matthew Landrus credits Leonardo with between 5 and 20 percent of the work and gives the painting to his assistant Bernardino Luini. Frank Zöllner calls the attribution controversial, partly because the badly damaged panel needed such heavy restoration. Jacques Franck sees good studio work with a little Leonardo at best.

The painting has also stayed out of sight. A showing at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, planned for September 18, 2018, was postponed with no reason given, and as far as is publicly known it hasn't been exhibited since the 2017 sale.

What the buyer paid for, more than paint on walnut, was the attribution: a story of a lost original found, backed by physical evidence and a museum's exhibition. Collectors tend to pay for certainty about who made something, and with only around fifteen paintings generally given to Leonardo, even a disputed one is rare. Watch the short video on this page for the thumb story in under a minute.

Questions people ask

How much did Salvator Mundi sell for in 2005?

It sold for $1,175 at St. Charles Gallery in New Orleans in April 2005, reported as a $1,000 winning bid plus $175 commission. It was catalogued as "After Leonardo da Vinci," meaning a copy.

Why did experts decide Salvator Mundi was by Leonardo?

During cleaning, the restorer found that the blessing thumb had first been painted more upright and then moved. None of the known copies show that change, and supporters of the attribution argue a copyist wouldn't revise the design. The National Gallery in London showed it as a Leonardo in 2011.

Is Salvator Mundi definitely a Leonardo da Vinci?

No, the attribution is still disputed. Some scholars credit Leonardo with only part of the work, or give it to his workshop or to his assistant Bernardino Luini, and others point to how heavily the damaged panel was restored.

Sources

  1. From £45 to $100m: Leonardo heads to New YorkThe Art Newspaper · 2017-11-14
  2. Salvator Mundi timelineChristie's · 2026-10-29
  3. Newly rediscovered Da Vinci painting to go on display at the National GalleryMedievalists.net · 2011-07-15
  4. Salvator Mundi: the disappearing masterpieceCarleton University · 2019-11-21
  5. Salvator Mundi (Leonardo)Wikipedia · 2026-10-29
  6. Salvator Mundi (painting)Wikipedia · 2026-10-28
  7. Robert B. SimonWikipedia · 2026-10-28
  8. History of the Salvator MundiSalvator Mundi Revisited · 2026-10-28
  9. PentimentiSalvator Mundi Revisited · 2026-10-28
  10. Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of MilanThe National Gallery · 2026-10-28
  11. Leonardo da Vinci's 'Salvator Mundi' painting sells for record $450MNBC News · 2017-11-16
  12. Louvre Abu Dhabi delays exhibition of Da Vinci's Salvator MundiAl Jazeera · 2018-09-03
  13. Dubbed the lost Leonardo: Salvator MundiYahoo News (BBC report) · 2026-10-28
  14. Boeing 747-8Wikipedia · 2026-10-28
  15. Franchised used-car sales do betterWardsAuto · 2006-03-01

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