失われた2億ドルのレオナルド・ダ・ヴィンチ作品が公開へ: 叡智の禁書図書館＜情報と書評＞

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2011年07月10日

失われた2億ドルのレオナルド・ダ・ヴィンチ作品が公開へ

Lost $200 Million Da Vinci to Go on Show in U.K.

【ブルームバーグより以下、転載】
A rediscovered Leonardo Da Vinci painting, valued by dealers at a record $200 million, is no longer for sale. The work is due to be included in an exhibition at London’s National Gallery starting in November.

The image of Christ, once owned by King Charles I, was acquired in the mid-2000s by the American art dealer Alex Parish and is currently owned by a group comprising him and at least two other traders, according to two persons with knowledge of the matter who declined to be named.

“There were some discussions with a museum concerning the possible acquisition of the painting, but it hasn’t been offered for many months,” said the New York-based private dealer Robert Simon. “I’ve assured the National Gallery that the painting isn’t on the market and that there are no plans to sell it after the exhibition.”

“I have an interest in the painting,” said Simon, who began studying the Leonardo in 2005. “I’m coordinating the research and representing the owners.” He declined to reveal who is in the group or the Leonardo’s price when it was on the market. He described its condition as “typical for a work of about 1500.”

“Salvator Mundi,” a 2-foot-high (0.6 meter) panel painting showing Christ half-length holding a crystal orb, will be among more than 90 works on display in “Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan” running from Nov. 9, 2011 through Feb. 5, 2012. The museum in Trafalgar Square has stringent guidelines to prevent being compromised by commercial interests.

Gallery Guidelines

“The National Gallery does not display paintings when they are for sale,” the museum said in an e-mail yesterday. “Any painting for sale is removed from display and returned to the owner, following a standard procedure for returning a loan picture.”

Simon issued a statement yesterday describing the provenance, conservation and authorship of “Salvator Mundi.” Scholars at the National Gallery and other institutions have agreed it is by Leonardo, making it the first painting by the artist to have been discovered since 1909. It is described as dating either from the late 1490s or from about 1500, when the “Mona Lisa” was painted. Only about 15 oils by the Italian Renaissance master survive, said the statement.

The painting was sold at auction by descendants of the U.K. collector Frederick Cook in 1958. It was described as the work of the Leonardo follower Boltraffio and fetched 45 pounds (now $72). More recently, it was part of an American collection, said the statement.

Paint Layers

The Leonardo had been offered for sale after being acquired six or seven years ago at an estate auction in the U.S., ARTnews magazine reported in June. The original Leonardo composition had been revealed after the removal of layers of later overpaint.

Potential buyers were being asked about $200 million for “Salvator Mundi,” making it the most expensive work of art ever offered for sale, said dealers. An offer of $100 million had been turned down, they said.

The highest price achieved for a work of art is the $140 million paid for the Jackson Pollock abstract, “No.5, 1948,” in a private sale in 2006, according to the New York Times.

The auction record for an Old Master is the 49.5 million pounds given for Rubens’s “Massacre of the Innocents” at Sotheby’s (BID) in 2002. Titian’s “Diana and Actaeon” was bought by the U.K. on behalf of the National Gallery and the National Galleries of Scotland for 50 million pounds in 2009.

Leonardo Market

“If and when it comes on the market, anything is possible,” said the London-based dealer Jean-Luc Baroni, who was the underbidder, on behalf of a collector, when a drawing by Raphael sold for 29.2 million pounds at Christie’s International in 2009.

“Leonardo is the biggest name,” Baroni said. “It just depends on whether a buyer can be found who is comfortable at that price level. Maybe there’s a Chinese or a Russian who’s prepared to pay it.”

The appearance of “Salvator Mundi” at the National Gallery in November will be the first time the cleaned painting has been seen in public, dealers said. Visitor numbers may be boosted by the success of Dan Brown’s 2003 bestseller “The Da Vinci Code.”

ロンドンのナショナル・ギャラリーにある、レオナルド・ダ・ヴィンチの作品が表面の修復を剥がして調査して、改めて本物として認められ、ここんとこ、あちこちのニュースで採り上げられてた件です。

日本ではあまり取り上げられていませんね。
ゴミのようなニュースは、たくさん報道されているのに・・・？？？

ラテン語でのいうところの　"Salvator Mundi"「世界の救世主」っていうタイトルらしいです。
見たまんま、イエス様が描かれ、ブレッシングしてるところみたい。

そういやあ～、昨日、劇団四季の「ジーザス・クライスト・スーパースター」を観たばかりなんで、ちょっと感慨深いものがあるかもしんない？

もしも、売りに出されたたら、これまでの絵画のオークション記録を塗り替えるのではと、俗っぽい世界中の人々の脚光の的らしい。

まあ、この記事もあのNY市長のブルーバーグっすから（笑）。

貧乏人の私には買えないし、欲しくもないですが、一度くらい観てみたいですね。
ロンドンにミュージカルでもまた観に行って、ついでに見てくるぐらい、いいよねぇ～。

そういやあ～、最初はテレグラフでこの記事見たんだっけ？
そちらも転載しておきます。
Lost Leonardo da Vinci painting to break all records

The oil painting, which depicts Christ with one hand raised in blessing and the other cradling a globe, is entitled 'Salvator Mundi' or 'Saviour of the World'.

Its discovery has been hailed by scholars as one of the most important artistic finds of the last 100 years.
For centuries it was believed to have been the work of a protégé of Leonardo.
But recent restoration work convinced a panel of eminent scholars in Britain, Italy and the US that it was created by the Renaissance master.
It is reportedly due to go on display for the first time at the National Gallery in London in November.

It is then expected to be offered for sale by the consortium of American dealers that own it, having reportedly bought it an estate sale about six years ago.
The oil on wood painting was once owned by King Charles I, and after his execution was passed it on to his son, Charles II.
It then vanished into obscurity until it turned up in the possession of Sir Francis Cook, a 19th-century British collector.
It was sold in 1958 for just £45, having been attributed to Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, one of Leonardo's pupils.
When the painting, which measures 26 in by 18 in, was acquired by the American consortium, restorers were brought in to scrape off centuries of grime and varnish to correct earlier, botched restoration efforts.
But as they delicately returned the painting to its original state, they began to think that it was the work of the master himself.
The exact circumstances of the painting's rediscovery and how much it might be worth were cloaked in secrecy yesterday.
Prof Martin Kemp, Emeritus Professor of the History of Art at Oxford University, was one of four of the world's foremost Leonardo experts invited to inspect the painting at the National Gallery.
But he told The Daily Telegraph that he could not comment until the owner of the work issued an official announcement, probably in September.
Pietro Marani, an Italian art historian who directed the restoration of Leonardo's Last Supper in Milan, viewed the work in London last year.
"Before the restoration it was in a bad state, covered by old layers of paint. But during the restoration the quality of the painting emerged – the marvellous colours, the reds and blues of the garment (worn by Christ), which are reminiscent of The Last Supper.
A comparison with another da Vinci work, the Virgin of the Rocks, "also seems to confirm that this is a Leonardo painting," said Prof Marani, along with scientific tests of the paint.
The National Gallery would not confirm or deny whether the picture will feature in its forthcoming exhibition, 'Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan", which starts on Nov 9, but its appearance would be a major coup.
The exhibition of 60 paintings and drawings is already being claimed as "sensational" because it will gather together Leonardo paintings that have never before been seen in the UK. "Discussions are still ongoing with the owner," a spokeswoman said.
ARTnews magazine, which first reported the discovery this week, suggested that when the painting is auctioned it could sell for as much as $200 million, an amount that would smash previous records.
To date, the highest sum paid for a painting was a reputed $140 million for a Jackson Pollock work entitled No 5, 1948, which was auctioned by Sotheby's in 2006.