Salvator Mundi (Leonardo)
Salvator Mundi is a painting attributed in whole or in part to the Italian High Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci, dated to c. 1499–1510. Long thought to be a copy of a lost original veiled with overpainting, it was rediscovered, restored, and included in an exhibition of Leonardo's work at the National Gallery, London, in 2011–2012. Christie's, who sold the work in 2017, stated that most leading scholars consider it an original work by Leonardo, but this attribution has been disputed by other leading specialists, some of whom propose that he only contributed certain elements; and others who believe that the extensive restoration prevents a definitive attribution.
Salvator Mundi (Leonardo)
c. 1908–1910 photograph showing overpainting
Simone Martini's Salvator Mundi Surrounded by Angels (c. 1341)
Wenceslaus Hollar, Salvator Mundi (1650), engraving, inscribed in Latin: "Leonardo da Vinci painted it, ... from the original", Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested on his achievements as a painter, he has also become known for his notebooks, in which he made drawings and notes on a variety of subjects, including anatomy, astronomy, botany, cartography, painting, and paleontology. Leonardo is widely regarded to have been a genius who epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal, and his collective works comprise a contribution to later generations of artists matched only by that of his younger contemporary Michelangelo.
Leonardo Da Vinci's baptism record
The possible birthplace and childhood home of Leonardo in Anchiano, Vinci, Italy
The Baptism of Christ (1472–1475) by Verrocchio and Leonardo, Uffizi Gallery
Adoration of the Magi c. 1478–1482, Uffizi, Florence