{"product_id":"the-last-leonardo-the-secret-lives-of-the-worlds-most-expensive-painting-9781984819253","title":"The Last Leonardo: The Secret Lives of the World's Most Expensive Painting","description":"\u003cb\u003eAn epic quest exposes hidden truths about Leonardo da Vinci's \u003ci\u003eSalvator Mundi, \u003c\/i\u003e the recently discovered masterpiece that sold for $450 million--and might not be the real thing.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn 2017, Leonardo da Vinci's small oil painting the \u003ci\u003eSalvator Mundi \u003c\/i\u003ewas 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFor two centuries, art dealers had searched in vain for the Holy Grail of art history: a portrait of Christ as the \u003ci\u003eSalvator Mundi \u003c\/i\u003eby 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? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Last Leonardo\u003c\/i\u003e 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Last Leonardo\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"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 \u003ci\u003eSalvator\u003c\/i\u003e'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.\"\u003cb\u003e--Charles Nicholl, \u003ci\u003e The Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"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.\"\u003cb\u003e--\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003eMichael Prodger, \u003ci\u003eThe Sunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBen Lewis \u003c\/b\u003eis 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 \u003ci\u003eThe Times, The Telegraph, London Evening Standard, The Observer, Prospect, Lib?ration, \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eDie Welt.\u003c\/i\u003e His award-winning documentary films include \u003ci\u003eThe Beatles, Hippies and Hells Angels: Inside the Crazy World of Apple; Google and the World Brain; Poor Us: An Animated History of Poverty; The Great Contemporary Art Bubble; Art Safari; \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eConstantin Brancusi: The Monk of Modernism. \u003c\/i\u003eLewis has an MA in history and art history from Trinity College\/Cambridge University, and he also studied at the Freie Universit?t in Berlin.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Ballantine Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50857607790866,"sku":"9781984819253","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_00535546-2003-4adf-a51d-299b01e0a2c5.jpg?v=1737536234","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-last-leonardo-the-secret-lives-of-the-worlds-most-expensive-painting-9781984819253","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}