00:00 // Introduction — The mystery of the Salvator Mundi
03:10 // Setting the record straight — media myths debunked
06:30 // Known copies and early evidence of Leonardo's composition
11:00 // Discovery at a Louisiana auction in 2005
16:20 // Conservation and the shocking transformation
22:00 // Pentimenti, handprints and proof of authenticity
28:30 // The National Gallery exhibition and the art market
35:00 // From oligarch to Christie's — the $450 million sale
41:00 // Iconography, the rock crystal sphere and cosmic symbolism
50:00 // Leonardo's optics, theology and the "optics of uncertainty"
The newly discovered Salvator by Leonardo, the world’s most costly picture, is one of his most notable creations, in which he used his ‘science of art’ to transform a stock subject into a profound expression of the ineffability of the divine.
We will look at the remarkable story of its discovery, its conservation and scientific examination, the research into how it works as an image and its provenance. We will also look at the scandalous events of its ownership and how it came to be where it is now.
This lecture was recorded by Martin Kemp on the 1st May 2019
Martin Kemp is Emeritus Professor of the History of Art at University of Oxford. He is considered one of the world's leading experts on the art of Leonardo da Vinci. He has published extensively on Leonardo, Renaissance art, and the links between art and science.
The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/leonardo-salvator-mundi
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