Auction houses and the art market are all about secrecy even involving high-profile transactions such as the $450.3 million paid in 2017 for Salvatore Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci – the highest price ever paid for a painting. The title in Latin means Saviour of the World and depicts Jesus Christ in Renaissance garb, making the sign of the cross with his right hand while holding a transparent crystal orb representing the heavens in his left. It’s dated 1500, but that, like its provenance and past, present, and future ownership, remains shrouded. And that is why art has become a dandy way to launder dirty money and governments are about to bring down the gavel on the art world.
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Diane Francis: Leonardo da Laundry
An attendant poses holding the recently discovered "Madeleine penitente", a painting by Salai, Leonardo da Vinci's closest collaborator, at The Articurial Auction House in Paris on Nov. 17, 2020, ahead of its scheduled auction on Nov. 18.
