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The Last Leonardo

The Secret Lives of the World’s Most Expensive Painting

The Secret Lives of the World’s Most Expensive Painting

The Secret Lives of the World’s Most Expensive Painting

By Ben Lewis

By Ben Lewis

By Ben Lewis

By Ben Lewis

By Ben Lewis
Read by Peter Noble

By Ben Lewis
Read by Peter Noble

Best Seller
Hardcover $28.00

Jun 25, 2019 | ISBN 9781984819253

Ebook $13.99

Jun 25, 2019 | ISBN 9781984819260

Audiobook Download $22.50

Jun 25, 2019 | 754 Minutes

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    The Last Leonardo by Ben Lewis
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    Jun 25, 2019 | ISBN 9781984819253
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      Jun 25, 2019 | ISBN 9781984819253

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      Jun 25, 2019 | ISBN 9781984819260

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    About The Last Leonardo

    An epic quest exposes hidden truths about Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, the recently discovered masterpiece that sold for $450 million—and might not be the real thing.
     
    In 2017, Leonardo da Vinci’s small oil painting the Salvator Mundi was 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 sale price 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 the Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci. Many similar paintings of greatly varying quality had been executed by Leonardo’s assistants in the early 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 Leonardo tells 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 lost treasure, 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 in his forensically detailed and gripping investigation into the history, discovery and sales of the painting, establishing the truth is like nailing down jelly.”— Michael Prodger, The Sunday Times

    About The Last Leonardo

    An epic quest exposes hidden truths about Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, the recently discovered masterpiece that sold for $450 million—and might not be the real thing.
     
    In 2017, Leonardo da Vinci’s small oil painting the Salvator Mundi was 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 sale price 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 the Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci. Many similar paintings of greatly varying quality had been executed by Leonardo’s assistants in the early 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 Leonardo tells 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 lost treasure, 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 in his forensically detailed and gripping investigation into the history, discovery and sales of the painting, establishing the truth is like nailing down jelly.”— Michael Prodger, The Sunday Times

    About The Last Leonardo

    An epic quest exposes hidden truths about Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, the recently discovered masterpiece that sold for $450 million—and might not be the real thing.
     
    In 2017, Leonardo da Vinci’s small oil painting the Salvator Mundi was 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 sale price 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 the Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci. Many similar paintings of greatly varying quality had been executed by Leonardo’s assistants in the early 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 Leonardo tells 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 lost treasure, 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 in his forensically detailed and gripping investigation into the history, discovery and sales of the painting, establishing the truth is like nailing down jelly.”— Michael Prodger, The Sunday Times

    Read An Excerpt

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    Listen to a sample from The Last Leonardo

    About Ben Lewis

    Ben Lewis is an art critic, author, documentary filmmaker, and visiting fellow at the Warburg Institute in London. He has written widely about art and culture for the international press, including The Times, The Telegraph, London Evening Standard, The Observer, Prospect,… More about Ben Lewis

    About Ben Lewis

    Ben Lewis is an art critic, author, documentary filmmaker, and visiting fellow at the Warburg Institute in London. He has written widely about art and culture for the international press, including The Times, The Telegraph, London Evening Standard, The Observer, Prospect,… More about Ben Lewis

    About Ben Lewis

    Ben Lewis is an art critic, author, documentary filmmaker, and visiting fellow at the Warburg Institute in London. He has written widely about art and culture for the international press, including The Times, The Telegraph, London Evening Standard, The Observer, Prospect,… More about Ben Lewis

    Product Details

    Category: Art | History | Arts & Entertainment Biographies & Memoirs

    Hardcover | $28.00
    Published by Ballantine Books
    Jun 25, 2019 | 384 Pages | 6-1/8 x 9-1/4 | ISBN 9781984819253

    Category: Art | History | Arts & Entertainment Biographies & Memoirs

    Ebook | $13.99
    Published by Ballantine Books
    Jun 25, 2019 | 384 Pages | ISBN 9781984819260

    Category: Art | History | Arts & Entertainment Biographies & Memoirs | Audiobooks

    Audiobook Download | $22.50
    Published by Random House Audio
    Jun 25, 2019 | 754 Minutes | ISBN 9780593147856

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    Praise

    “A richly detailed mystery . . . As Lewis chronicles the quest to attribute the painting to [Leonardo] da Vinci, he uncovers an astoundingly dysfunctional world of museums, galleries, auction houses, collectors—a Russian oligarch and a Saudi prince among them—and unscrupulous middlemen, a world plagued by mistrust, suspicion, and the irresistible lure of financial rewards. Art, greed, and stealth make for a lively tale of intrigue.”—Kirkus Reviews

    “As the art historian and critic Ben Lewis shows in his forensically detailed and gripping investigation into the history, discovery and sales of the painting, establishing the truth is like nailing down jelly.”— Michael Prodger, The Sunday Times

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