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The Lost Leonardo can be seen in the Hungarian cinemas from June, 29, 2023.

Robb Report’s crime-thriller film is about the vomiting of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting Salvator Mundi, which was believed to be lost forever. Around 1500, when the painting was created, Leonardo was almost 50 years old. He is the world’s most famous visual artist. There is an assumption that it could have been made for an outstanding art patron. He worked with first-class ingredients; and surface treated; which was rare. He began many pictures and left almost as many unfinished; but he finished that.

The fate of the tableau remained unclear for a hundred years, until it appeared in the collection of the English ruler Charles I, who, when he died in debt, the Crown decided to sell a large part of his art collection in order to pay off his debts. He goes to a stonemason – in today’s terms an architect – John Stone, in exchange for his unpaid work. 9 years later, during the restoration of the monarchy, when II. Károly ascends the throne, the parliament passes a bill that reclaims for the Crown the assets that were given to the sons of the common people as compensation for the debt of Károly I. Thus, the painting II. It enters Károly’s collection, then passes to his younger brother, II. Jakabra. From him to Jakab’s lover, Catherine Sedley, with whom he also has an illegitimate son. Catherine marries the first Duke of Buckingham, the builder of Buckingham House. The palace is sold by the heirs, it is known today as Buckingham Palace. In 1763, when the palace was purchased for the Crown, the furnishings were auctioned off. Then it disappears from our sight for hundreds of years.

We don’t know anything about it. Leonardo was sold as a painting, but for an insignificant sum. Therefore, we assume that they could have been heavily overpainted by this time! In 1763, we lose sight of it, until the XIX. until the end of the century, when it became the property of a famous English art collector, Francis Cook. But at that time it was already on the market as a Leonardo copy or a work made in the style of Leonardo. The topcoat layers are quite thick! It was reworked to make it more masculine because it probably suited the 19th century. century public taste. It remained a mediocre item in the Cook collection until 1958… when it changed hands at London’s Sotheby’s auction house for £45. We know he found an American buyer. It remains in the possession of American collectors until 2005, when it is auctioned again, for a similarly low price, because it is believed to be a Louisiana copy. In November 2017, Christie’s sold Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi to a Saudi prince for a record $450,312,500. It is currently in long-term deposit at the Louvre in Abu Dhabi.

This is not just a portrait of Jesus Christ commissioned by a king! This tableau reflects Leonardo’s thinking about painting techniques and time, eternity, and the universe.

The lost Leonardo can be seen in Hungarian cinemas from June, 29, 2023.

Not intended for children under 12 years of age.

Distributor: Pannonia Entertainment.

Recommendation by Aggie Reiter