The world’s most expensive painting is due to be transformed into an NFT. Salvator Mundi, which has been attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, sold for $450.3m with fees at Christie’s New York, the highest price ever paid at auction. The controversial painting, which shows Christ holding a crystal orb, will be minted by ElmonX, a platform for digital assets, in collaboration with the international image licensing company Bridgeman Images. The terms of the sale, launching 12 August, are due to be announced.

Previous NFTs produced under the partnership include Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa (1503), Van Gogh’s Starry Night (1889), Auguste Rodin’s The Thinker (1904) and Claude Monet’s Nymphéas 1907. Mona Lisa was sold in 330 editions at a cost of £150.00 according to the ElmonX website. The platform also sold an "artist proof" version which bundled an NFT of the painting with a print for £900.00 in an edition of 10. Last week, an ElmonX artist proof Mona Lisa was resold on the NFT marketplace OpenSea for 3.7 ETH ($6,764).
From an ongoing attribution debate to a patchwork provenance and multiple sales, the art world saga par excellence that is the $450m Salvator Mundi has a long and chequered history.

The work was offered at Christie’s New York in November 2017 "in excess of $100m", the highest-ever estimate for an Old Master painting; it was guaranteed by a third party, thought to be the Taiwanese businessman Pierre Chen. Following a two-person bidding war, it sold for $400m ($450.3m with fees) to a phone bidder on behalf of the new Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) whose identity was unknown to the public at the time. The whereabouts of the painting remain unknown.

Source: theartnewspaper.com