Somewhere deep in the bowels of the Dallas Museum of Art, there sits a very special painting. It is Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, an oil-on-wood painting that was lost for many years. A consortium of dealers owns the painting. Why is it in Dallas? The DMA is thinking about buying it. Director Maxwell Anderson confirmed: “We are actively exploring the possibility of acquiring it.”
How much might it cost? Well, back in 1958, when people thought a student of Da Vinci’s had painted it, Salvator Mundi sold for about $90. Not $90 million. Just 90 bucks. Now that its true provenance is known, it might cost something like $250 million.
