Last Leonardo eAudiobook MP3

An epic quest exposes hidden truths about Leonardo da Vinci'sSalvator Mundi,the recently discovered masterpiece that sold for $450 millionand might not be the real thing.

In 2017, Leonardo da Vinci's small oil painting theSalvator Mundiwas 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 saleprice 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 theSalvator Mundiby Leonardo da Vinci. Many similar paintings of greatly varying quality had been executed by Leonardo's assistants in theearly 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 Leonardotells 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 losttreasure, 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 inhis forensically detailedandgripping investigationinto the history, discovery and sales of the painting,establishing the truth is like nailing down jelly.'Michael Prodger,The Sunday Times