Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi is Going to the Louvre Abu Dhabi

Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi is going to the new Louvre Abu Dhabi, the art gallery tweeted on Wednesday.

But there's still no public information on who purchased the painting at the record-setting auction in November, when the controversial artwork went for $450.3 million US at Christie's, making it the most expensive painting ever sold.

Before the auction, Christie's valued it at $100 million US.

The Salvator Mundi ("Saviour of the World") has been called ethereal, mysterious, spooky and touted as a long-lost painting by the Renaissance master. 

Dating from the 1500s, the painting was billed as the final Leonardo work held in private hands, one of roughly 20 paintings attributed to him. 

Depicting a half-length, front-facing Christ figure grasping a crystal orb in one hand, with the other raised in a gesture of benediction, the work was put up for sale by Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, who had purchased it in 2013.

The Louvre Abu Dhabi officially opened Nov. 11 in the United Arab Emirates.

Through its collaboration with the Louvre in Paris and other French museums, the new gallery, the largest art museum in the Arabian peninsula, displays works by Vincent Van Gogh, Henri Matisse, Claude Monet, contemporary Chinese artist Ai Wei Wei and Leonardo's La Belle Ferronniere.

CBC.ca

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