'Salvator Mundi': Leonardo da Vinci's missing masterpiece?

‘Salvator Mundi’ is a painting surrounded by mysteries. In this talk, Professor Martin Kemp FBA explores evidence that it is indeed a work of Leonardo Da Vinci, the painting’s key components, and the alleged whereabouts of the ‘Salvator Mundi’ today.

Speaker: Professor Martin Kemp FBA, Emeritus Professor of the History of Art, University of Oxford; Honorary Fellow, Trinity College, Oxford

This video is for informative and educational purposes.

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Images included in this video:
0:33 - Salvator Mundi attributed to Leonardo da Vinci c.1490-1519, oil on panel, private collection. (Photo by VCG Wilson/Corbis via Getty Images)

01:22 - The drapery of a sleeve, Leonardo da Vinci c.1504-8. © Royal Collection Enterprises Limited 2024 | Royal Collection Trust. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

01:28 - The drapery of a chest and sleeve, Leonardo da Vinci c.1504-8. © Royal Collection Enterprises Limited 2024 | Royal Collection Trust. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

01:41 - Salvator mundi by Wenceslaus Hollar; after Leonardo da Vinci, 1650. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

01:41 - Anonymous, Salvator Mundi (Cristo Redentore benedicente), first half of XVI century, Worsey Collection.

01:41 - Salvator mundi prima del restauro, c. 1499, Cook Collection 1913.

01:41 - Salvator mundi, copy, from the Ganay collection.

01:41 - Gerolamo Alibrandi, Studio di Leonardo, Cristo come Salvator Mundi, c.1519, Museo di San Domenico Maggiore. Fondo Edifici di Culto -Ministero dell'Interno.

01:41 - Anonymous, Christ as Salvator Mundi, Zurich, Private collection, former Viktor Stark Collection.

01:41 – Copy, Christ as Salvador Mundi, Circle of Leonardo da Vinci c. 1452–1519.

01:41 - Cesare da Sesto, Salvator Mundi (1516–1517). Wilanów Palace, Warsaw

01:41 – Salvator Mundi, copy, Gian Giacomo Caprotti, 16th century.

03:10 – Leonardo da Vinci c1472-c1519. From The Literary Works of Leonardo Da Vinci, Vol. 1 by Jean Paul Richter, PH. DR. [Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, London, 1883]. (Photo by The Print Collector/Getty Images)

05:10 - Raffaello Sanzio, Prime Mover, 1509-11, Stanza della Segnatura, Palazzi Pontifici, Vatican. © Web Gallery of Art

05:43 - Leonardo Da Vinci, Optics of the Eye (Paris, Institut de France, Manuscript D)

06:36 - Leonardo da Vinci, Saint John the Baptist. Around 1508-1519. Paris, Musée du Louvre. © 2016 Louvre

09:06 - Christie's To Auction Leonardo da Vinci's "Salvator Mundi" Painting. Photo by Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images

[steviejd]

So utterly refreshing to listen to a learned man and his deep passion. Wonderful.

[retsehcmaharg]

What a splendid piece of instruction - balanced, factual and unsensational. Thank you for your sanity.

[yoakeasahi]

Martin Kemp talks to me on Leonardo, and I'm listning and watching it while feeding sourdough starter at my kitchen. Just heavenly!

[zappababe]

Thank you, you explained it very well! Even a layperson like myself can understand and you have convinced me that it is the work of Leonardo da Vinci.

[JACover-bykp]

Kemp is — plain and simple — the absolute best, hands down, full stop. It’s like fresh air, this. Let us never take this sadly uncommon kind of reporting for granted. Thank you Martin, and The Academy. Terrific. — j.a.c.

[caroldemas]

Wonderful! Thank you so much for all that you do! You have enriched my life immeasurably.

[margo]

The controversy surrounding the painting, its sudden appearance at Christie’s makes for a fascinating story. Thank you.

[colinbooth]

Wonderful. I needed to be convinced, and now I am. Thank you.

[davidtydeman]

I have read the book and seen many photos of the badly damaged painting discovered in an obscure auction house in America. Leonardo may or may not have painted the work or part of the work originally but in my unqualified opinion the amount of restoration that was done to this work goes way beyond damage repair to the point where there is almost nothing left of the original work which is a terrible shame.

[wkmwnji]

Wonderful talk. I echo what others have said in praise. I wish videos like this weren’t so rare.

[mario]

Thoroughly enjoyed the video, the analyses, the commentary and anecdotes.
Thank you Master.

[doncrossan]

Very interesting, a compelling presentation, you're explanation and description grabbed my attention prof.

[zeeshansuhail]

Loved every minute - and wasn’t expecting the mic drop moment at the end!

[bipolarminddroppings]

I've always loved the term Emeritus Professor. Emeritus is such a wonderful word. Most people don't know what it means but when they hear it they're impressed anyways "I don't know what it means but it sounds important!"

[goldenchild]

For aome reason i got a peace of mind listening to him talk

[LaRusso]

As soon as I saw the hand and then the hair ringlets I was convinced it was a Leonardo. I still believe it to be so.

[larrywakeman]

STELLAR presentation, thank you! With a BA in Art Hsitory, this is wonderful content.
My favorite paintieris William Bouguereau. I love Lenardo da Vinci, Carravaggio, George Inness, Alfred Dellobbe, Gistave Doyen.... among others! Kimberly

[trinitytwo]

Thank you Professor. Leonardo, brilliant throughout time.

[UseDgh]

Sold at auction for $1, 175 in 2005. Previously sold for £45 in 1958.

[tonimahoni]

Beltracchi, the most famous art forger of our time, himself said that the painting is a sorry excuse for a forgery and that Leonardo would’ve never drawn something like this.