Leonardo’s Salvator Mundi restored – timelapse video

Watch a timelapse from Christie’s showing the restoration of Leonardo Da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi. The piece was sold for $450m (£400m) on Wednesday evening to an anonymous buyer. Salvator Mundi is the most recent Leonardo to be discovered and unanimously agreed upon to be authentic by art historians and experts  • Leonardo da Vinci painting sells for $450m at auction, smashing records

[owenatkinson]

It’s a good thing all these random people on YouTube have serious doubts about its authenticity!! Where would the experts go if they didn’t have you guys!!!

[haroof]

Although I have serious doubts about whether or not it's an actual Leonardo, the painting is definitely interesting to look at.

[vasopel]

I know the hair on the left in the painting was badly destroyed, but couldn't they use that old photo of the painting for reference when they restored it? they look very different!

[InfoArtistJKatTheGoodInfoCafe]

Art experts and historians don't doubt that Leonardo da Vinci was a contributor to this Salvatore Mundi painting. The question is how much of a contribution did he make? The latest consensus is that he was the main artist. That he did, at least, the majority of the painting if not all.

[brienrullman]

absolutely stunning restoration...BRAVO

[edstud]

Restoration or alteration? This painting not created by Leonardo in my opinion!

[VOLightPortal]

The purest visual depiction of Yeshua ever painted.

[slartibortfast]

The difference between the before and after is 45 pounds to 400 million.

[MagicCarpetMusic]

Brilliant restorer Dianne Dwyer Modestini – a genius! Thank you!

[BillPeschel]

Clever of Christie not to actually show the new and old version side by side. Makes it much more difficult to form an opinion.

You can trust Christie. It's not like they make any money off the sale.

[giggles]

My question is this, and I only ask after quite a bit of seeking: Where is the first image of this presentation taken from? I've seen it explained that it's supposedly an image of the painting as it appeared in the first decade of the 20th century, yet it appears here more like a sketch that matches the painting that was "rediscovered" in New Orleans 2005, but looks nothing like the painting _as it appeared_ in the 2005 auction house catalog when it was purchased, cleaned, and restored by Dianne Dwyer Modestini. If the painting's provenance prior to 2005 was so difficult to come by as is yet still in question, where did this image come from? If anyone can untangle even this question and clarify, I sincerely thank you in advance.

And just to voice a critical viewpoint, the restoration done on the piece is undoubtedly exceptional aside from the terrible stark black background that appears in a much glossier medium than the actual portrait. It's almost akin to how rear-projection shots in older films looked and it astounds me that of all the arguments thrown at it, I've yet to hear much about what I see is such an obvious flaw of the restoration.

[alocohc]

It's an exquisite painting of Christ.

[gypsysnickerdoodle]

Have you ever seen a man’s neckline like that anywhere else in that Period?

[eddiewillers]

I'm sorry, but that is just not good enough to be by Leonardo.

[Al-vwqt]

original was wonky eyed. why change that?

[janetbeebe]

I saw the movie, the Lost Leonardo. I just hope it's safe.

[AstralHiGH]

Bro it's not his painting anymore if it was restored.

[mgarofano]

We should do everything to avoid this historical-cultural damage. This is not a Leonardo and Carlo Pedretti, the leading expert on Leonardo, said it clearly. It would be enough, among other things, to read the treatise on painting and observe Leonardo's paintings to understand what can or cannot be attributed to Leonrdo. What is most displeasing is therefore what we could fully define as "the disfigurement of Leonardo's work" which will be handed down to future generations with the addition of incorrect elements which will probably no longer be possible to remove. People continue and will continue to participate, unaware, in this grotesque situation in which someone would absurdly like to attribute this expressionless passport photo to Leonardo. In this, I repeat, Leonardo, art and culture are decidedly distorted. Why do we continue to do this?

[Revelation._EWFMG]

honestly¡! the painting is probably a gross misrepresentation of the Biblical Jesus Christ ✝ looks more like Robert Plant in his heyday¡!😕😣

[stratvm]

this is not restoration. this painting has been altered beyond recognition, totally worthless. and the original is nothing like leonardo`s works either.