Da Vinci portrait of Christ sells for record $450.3 mln in New York

Leonardo da Vinci's portrait of Christ, “Salvator Mundi” sold for a record-smashing $450.3 million on Wednesday  at Christie's in New York -- more than double the old mark for any work of art at auction.

The auction hammer price of $400 million does not include the fees Christie's charges the buyer.

The painting, which once sold for a mere $125, was only recently rediscovered. It was the last da Vinci left in private hands and fetched more than four times the Christie's pre-sale estimate of about $100 million.

“Salvator Mundi”(Savior of the World) was purchased by an unidentified buyer bidding via telephone after a protracted bidding war that stretched to nearly 20 minutes at the New York auction house.

Christie's did not identify the buyer of the da Vinci painting, but Alex Rotter, Christie's Chairman of Postwar and Contemporary Art described the bidder's mood while they spoke during the auction.

“Very calm,” he said. “The buyer was, I would say, rather calm for bidding this kind of money.”

Rotter added, “It feels very satisfying to achieve this price. It's good for us. It's good for everyone. But it's great because it justifies that (da Vinci) was the master of all masters and he now holds to auction record price.”  

Andy Warhol's “Sixty Last Suppers,” was another of the night's highlights. The monumental work fetched $60.9 million, ($56 million hammer price) exceeding the estimate.

Two Cy Twombly paintings also fared well, selling for $46.4 million and $27.3 million, both surpassing estimates.