The Last Leonardo by Ben Lewis
An epic quest exposes hidden truths about Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi, the recently discovered masterpiece that sold for $450 million--and might not be the real thing.In 2017, Leonardo da Vinci's small oil painting the Salvator Mundi was sold at auction. In the words of its discoverer, the image of Christ as savior of the world is "the rarest thing on the planet." Its $450 million sale price also makes it the world's most expensive painting.
For two centuries, art dealers had searched in vain for the Holy Grail of art history: a portrait of Christ as the Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci. Many similar paintings of greatly varying quality had been executed by Leonardo's assistants in the early sixteenth century. But where was the original by the master himself? In November 2017, Christie's auction house announced they had it. But did they?
The Last Leonardo tells a thrilling tale of a spellbinding icon invested with the power to make or break the reputations of scholars, billionaires, kings, and sheikhs. Ben Lewis takes us to Leonardo's studio in Renaissance Italy; to the court of Charles I and the English Civil War; to Amsterdam, Moscow, and New Orleans; to the galleries, salerooms, and restorer's workshop as the painting slowly, painstakingly emerged from obscurity. The vicissitudes of the highly secretive art market are charted across six centuries. It is a twisting tale of geniuses and oligarchs, double-crossings and disappearances, in which we're never quite certain what to believe. Above all, it is an adventure story about the search for lost treasure, and a quest for the truth.
Praise for The Last Leonardo
"The story of the world's most expensive painting is narrated with great gusto and formidably researched detail in Ben Lewis's book. . . . Lewis's probings of the Salvator's backstory raise questions about its historical status and visibility, and these lead in turn to the fundamental question of whether the painting is really an autograph work by Leonardo."--Charles Nicholl, The Guardian
"As the art historian and critic Ben Lewis shows in his forensically detailed and gripping investigation into the history, discovery and sales of the painting, establishing the truth is like nailing down jelly."-- Michael Prodger, The Sunday Times
Ben Lewis is an art critic, author, documentary filmmaker and television presenter. He has written about art and culture leading newspapers from the Evening Standard to The Observer, Sunday Telegraph and The Times in Britain, and Libü¾Ž–”¼ration and Die Welt. His award-winning documentary films, including The Great Contemporary Art Bubble, Google and the World Brain and The Beatles, Hippies and Hells Angels have been shown on the BBC, Arte, PBS, Sky Arts, and other channels around the world.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781984819253 |
| ISBN 10 | 1984819259 |
| Title | The Last Leonardo |
| Author | Ben Lewis |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Random House USA Inc |
| Year published | 2019-06-25 |
| Number of pages | 384 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |