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 The painting, only recently rediscovered, was
the last da Vinci left in private hands and fetched more than
four times Christie's' pre-sale estimate of about $100 million.
It beat a record set in May 2015 by Pablo Picasso's "Les Femmes
D'Alger," which sold for $179.4 million, and constituted more
than half the sale's total of $785.9 million, which came in well
above the roughly $450 million pre-sale estimate.
"Salvator Mundi" (Savior of the World) was purchased by an
unidentified buyer bidding via telephone after a protracted
contest of nearly 20 minutes at the New York auction house.
With at least six bidders and increments coming in at more than
15 million, sustained whoops and cheers broke out in the packed
salesroom as the hammer came down.
"It was a moment when all the stars were aligned, and I think
Leonardo would be very pleased," Jussi Pylkkänen, global
president of Christie's, told Reuters after the sale.
"It's a painting beyond anything I've ever handled," said
Pylkkänen, the auctioneer, adding, "I should hang up my gavel."
The restored portrait, an ethereal depiction of Jesus Christ
which dates to about 1500, is one of fewer than 20 paintings by
the Renaissance artist known to still exist.
First recorded in the private collection of King Charles I, the
work was auctioned in 1763 before vanishing until 1900, by which
time Christ's face and hair had been painted over - once a
"quite common" practice, according to Alan Wintermute,
Christie's senior specialist for Old Master paintings.
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Sold at Sotheby's to an American collector in 1958 for only 45
pounds, it again sold in 2005 as an overpainted copy of the
masterwork.
The new owner started the restoration process, and after some six
years of research it was authenticated as da Vinci's more than
500-year-old masterpiece, which culminated in a high-profile
exhibition at London's National Gallery in 2011.
Christie's did not identify the seller, other than to say it was a
European private collector who acquired the work after its
rediscovery in 2005 and lengthy restoration.
Media identified him as Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, who
paid $127.5 million in 2013 in a private sale.
Auction highlights included Andy Warhol's "Sixty Last Suppers," a
monumental work that fetched $60.9 million, exceeding the estimate.
Two Cy Twombly paintings also fared well, selling for $46.4 million
and $27.3 million, both surpassing estimates.
(Reporting by Chris Michaud; Editing by Sandra Maler and Clarence
Fernandez)
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