Stan Miller ( b . 1949 ) Charles
2002 egg tempera on panel
24 ” x 36 ” Private collection
This award-winning portrait exhibits Miller ’ s high level of competence as a portraitist .
If it seems a bizarre twist that the auction was not held at an Old Masters sale but at a “ Post-War and Contemporary Evening Sale ,” that is nothing compared to what happened next . The painting vanished and nobody knows where it is . Or at least whoever does isn ’ t saying .
According to a Reuters report , 4 after the November 15 , 2017 sale , the painting was purchased via a Saudi intermediary for the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism . It would be placed on public view at the Louvre Abu Dhabi , a collaboration between the Louvre , Paris and the United Arab Emirates . So here we are three years later and it has yet to see the light of day . The reason ( s ) why , and whether it is in the UAE or in a Swiss bank vault , remain a matter of rumor .
Stepping back from marketplace intrigues , the debates seem more about the name of its artist than the painting ’ s intrinsic qualities and merits . It ’ s too good not to be a Leonardo . It ’ s not good enough to be a Leonardo . Some parts are good enough but there are not enough of them . But there ’ s real big money at stake here ! Whew !
Other versions of Salvator Mundi (“ Savior of the World ”) can be found among the old masters , including Titian , El Greco , and Albrecht Dürer , usually with the right hand of Christ held up in a conventional gesture of blessing and the left holding a symbolic orb . 5 With its High Renaissance pyramidal , near-symmetrical composition , this one stands apart .
Closeup of the hand of Christ , with the thumb adjusted from the awkward shape in the original . The cleaned painting revealed a pentimento , where the artist moved the position of the thumb . It would have been a violation of professional ethics for the conservator to January alter or “ improve | February ” on the 2021 original . 33