Russian billionaire puts newly unveiled da Vinci painting up for sale

An ethereal portrait of Jesus Christ

Reuters

This is Salvator Mundi (circa 1500), the last painting of Leonardo da Vinci to be kept in a private collection.

Reuters

This is Dmitry Rybolovlev, a Russian billionaire who owns da Vinci's Salvator Mundi and the soccer club AS Monaco.

Leonard J. DeFrancisci

This is Christie's auction house in New York, which was given the honor by Rybolovlev to auction the painting on Nov. 15.

Reuters

This is $100 million, the first estimate for Salvator Mundi, which was sold at auction in 1958 for only 45 pounds (around $125) as a work of da Vinci's school.

The State Hermitage Museum

This is da Vinci's Madonna Benua, which was the most recently discovered (in the early 19th century) painting of the master. Da Vinci's authorship of Salvator Mundi was recognized only in 2005.

Diego Delso

This is London's National Gallery, where Salvator Mundi was first shown to the public in 2011. It was subsequently sold by Sotheby's to art dealer Yves Bouvier, who in turn resold it to Dmitry Rybolovlev for $47.5 million more than he paid for it.

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