500-year-old stolen copy of Leonardo da Vinci's 'Salvator Mundi' recovered

Italian police have recovered a 16th-century copy of Leonardo da Vinci's "Salvator Mundi" -- the world's most expensive painting -- after it was stolen from a museum in Naples. It is a copy of Leonardo’s work that in 2017 became the most expensive painting ever sold, fetching $450 million at a Christie’s auction in New York.

According to a police statement, the artwork was found in a Naples flat during a search and it was returned to a museum that had no idea the painting had been stolen. The flat's 36-year-old owner was taken into custody on suspicion of receiving stolen goods.

The portrait was modelled on Leonardo's famed depiction of Christ with one hand raised in blessing and the other holding a crystal orb. Several copies of the artwork were made during the artist's lifetime by his students and assistants.

According to a CNN report, it is not known who created this particular "Salvator Mundi," but it is believed to have been painted towards the end of the 1510s by someone from the artist's workshop. The portrait's owner -- the Museum of San Domenico Maggiore in Naples -- said on its website that there are "several hypotheses" about the painter's identity, with the "most convincing" theory crediting Leonardo's student Girolamo Alibrandi, reported CNN.

It is believed that the artwork was created in Rome before being brought to Naples by Giovanni Antonio Muscettola, an envoy and advisor to the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V. The painting briefly returned to the Italian capital in 2019, when it was loaned to the Villa Farnesina for its exhibition "Leonardo in Rome". 

The exhibition brochure described it as a "magnificent" copy of the artist's masterpiece. Police did not say when the artwork was stolen, though the Naples museum reported being in possession of the painting as recently as January 2020, when it was returned from Rome.

(COVER PHOTO CREDIT: Twitter)