Salvator Mundi (The Savior of the World) portrays Jesus in an blue Renaissance-style dress. He is making the sign of the cross with his right hand and, in his left hand, he is holding a transparent, non-refracting crystal orb, representing the "celestial sphere" of the heavens.
Is this painting a lost masterpiece by the Italian High Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci? Some art historians have concluded that it is. But it is also possible that it was created by one of Leonardo's proteges or is a copy of an original restored by other painters. If not an authentic Da Vinci, then its recent history and astronomical sale prices would constitute one of the greatest scams in art history.
This documentary recounts the quest for the truth about the painting and the interest in it among some of the world's megarich. In 2017, it was sold at Christie's, the world-famous auction house, for $450 million, setting a new record for the most expensive painting sold at public auction.
We meet some of the historians and da Vinci experts who gathered at London's National Gallery to authenticate the painting for a group of American art dealers who bought it in 2008. It was then purchased by a Russian oligarch, with the assistance of a Swiss art dealer. When he needed money, he sold it at Christie's. The buyer turned out to be an Saudi Arabian prince who wanted it to be the centerpiece of a Da Vinci exhibit at a museum he built in Abu Dhabi. But the exhibit never opened. Was the Prince questioning the authenticity of his painting? And what are the art experts saying now?
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this documentary is what it reveals about how the art world is at the mercy of the whims and egos of the megarich. The value of the painting as an artist's tribute to Jesus matters much less that its value as an investment.