Authenticity questions still surround Salvator Mundi … a work sold as an authentic Leonardo da Vinci for $450M at Christie’s in 2017. Since being purchased by Mohammed bin Salman, crown prince of Saudi Arabia, nobody has seen the painting.
News reports are now claiming that curators at the Louvre will not include the painting in this year’s major Leonardo da Vinci exhibition since they are not convinced it be attributed solely to da Vinci. If the painting were to be included, … they would want to exhibit it as ‘workshop’. I am pretty sure the current owner would never let that happen since its value would then be far, far, less than the purchase price.
So, you may want to know the answer to the question, when is a Leonardo not a Leonardo? Your guess is as good as mine. If at some point it turns out not to be right, there are going to be a lot of unhappy people — except, of course, the lawyers!