The madness of the art market: why a copy of Leonardo da Vinci jumps from 15,000 to a million euros

A badly damaged copy of Leonardo da Vinci's

sold for more than a million euros in an

at Christie's on November 28.

Its estimated price was between 10,000 and 15,000 euros.

The work is attributed to "the Italian school" and dated "around 1600".

The auction house file specifies that the piece, without a frame, dates from after the Renaissance artist.

A series of characteristics that a priori seem more dissuasive than attractive.

But, after 11 days exposed on the Christie's website, on the last day there was a battle between a few merchants.

In minutes, the offers were escalating and the price shot up to more than one million euros.

What happened?

Why did a copy after Leonardo da Vinci reach that amount?

Once again, like everything that surrounds the painter and this painting, there are more mysteries than certainties.

More information

'Salvator Mundi': Leonardesque yes, Leonardo's no

First, the verifiable data.

In the report on the state of the painting that anyone can download on the Christie's website, it appears that it is a piece measuring 63.2 centimeters by 51, painted on a panel of poplar wood, a flimsy, easily deformable material that without However, according to this document, it is stable because it has been fixed.

Bernard Deprez, the independent restorer who signs the study, explains that, after an analysis "in daylight" and another with X-rays, it can be concluded that there are "numerous small losses" in Christ's red suit, in the beard , under the head, in the background of the painting and in the crystal ball in the character's hand.

The 'Salvator Mundi' painting auctioned at Christie's in November.Christie's

All these damages are perceptible in the photo that is included in the lot file.

You don't have to be an expert to see them.

Even so, Deprez concludes in his report that "as the most important parts of the painting have not been altered, the state of conservation of the painting can be considered very good."

What does not appear in the document of this

is an analysis of the pigments.

As for the date of the painting indicated by Christie's, if it is correct, around 1600, it cannot be a work of Leonardo da Vinci and probably did not leave his workshop.

However, according to the catalog of the great exhibition that was held at the Louvre Museum in Paris in 2019 dedicated to the author, there are up to 22 copies of the

.

This one that has appeared now could be one of them.

“It could be very important because the sleeve on the right arm is painted exactly the same as in a Leonardo drawing,” explains Frank Zöllner, the art historian responsible for keeping the artist's catalog raisonné up to date.

“There is another

with that sleeve, a lost piece, but whose existence is known from photos.

It was in the Yarborough collection, later known as the Worsley collection”, Zöllner continues, limiting himself to these two comments as he does not have the necessary information to draw further conclusions.

In the Christie's file it appears that the painting for sale belonged to a family from the south of France.

The back of the copy of 'Salvator Mundi' showing the restorations.Christie's

The experts

Once the technical data has been reviewed, the questions begin about how it is possible that this piece alone accounted for half of the total sale of all the works in the auction.

The

sold for 1,062,000 euros, all lots for 2,722,428 euros.

From Christie's France they defend that it is a quality piece, by an author in high demand by the art market.

"Leonardo da Vinci is a fascinating figure for many, even if it is about late copies like this one," they explain at the auction house.

"The phenomenon continues to grow", they point out, and give as an example the sale of two copies of the

.

One, signed by Raymond Hekking, was sold in June 2021 for almost three million euros, "10 times more than its estimated price."

The other, attributed to Théodore Chassériau, exceeded 160,000 euros, when it started with a price between 50,000 and 70,000 euros.

An expert collector of old masters who prefers not to give his name (this is a world full of secrets and opacities) corroborates, to a certain extent, Christie's version.

“They are crazy.

These paintings become icons and people want to have vintage copies.

Somehow it was already done in the 17th century when the great collectors commissioned copies of important paintings from first-rate painters”, says the expert, who is emphatic in stating that “it is not a good painting”.

And he adds: "It is a document that indicates that the original painting is important because it was already copied at the time."

If it is not a good painting, as the collector assures, is the final price pure speculation?

Another expert consulted by EL PAÍS differs and on the other side of the phone it sounds almost more resounding: "The painting is magnificent and I have only seen one photo on a mobile."

In his opinion, there is less room to speculate with an ancient work of art than with a contemporary one.

Although the record sale for more than 300 million euros of the

, at an auction also at Christie's in 2017, denotes that there is interest in the old masters in an art market where fiscal engineering rules, perfectly legal, which not only does it allow buyers to remain anonymous, but it also grants them certain tax benefits.

"I think the price is due to the fact that they have found the attribution," continues the collector, convinced that it is a good work.

"It is likely that he is a very important follower of Leonardo."

Attribution errors are quite common in this type of sales.

Several experts consulted agree that the large auction houses sometimes "lack the necessary

" to correctly award and date the works when working with a large number of pieces.

On the contrary, these same experts defend that they have the knowledge and experience to "see what others do not see."

In other words, they ensure that with time and the money necessary to hire good restaurateurs, they are able to identify

(sleepers): misattributed works, with a derisory starting price, and still without legal protection.

"They will restore it, they will put the attribution on it and since everything that revolves around Leonardo is in fashion, they will get a lot of money from it," says the expert, convinced that it is a great piece.

How much money?

"I estimate between four and five million," he says.

The other, more skeptical collector agrees that in the Asian market, buyers avid for icons will have no problem paying that amount.

Because as they say in the documentary

"The art world is full of people who want to earn a lot of money at the expense of the rich."

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