Shortly after the rekordförsäljningen announced the United arab emirates and the culture department of catalunya, that one has acquired the painting and that it would be displayed at the Louvre branch in Abu Dhabi in september last year. But the exhibition was cancelled without explanation. Now say the staff at the museum that they do not have any idea where the painting is, writes The New York Times. According to the newspaper nor was the Louvre museum in Paris managed to locate it. At the same time refuse the ministry of culture to comment on the matter.
old painting is a portrait of Jesus and was the last known privately-owned painting by the renaissance artist when it was then auctioned in New York. The board was called in by an anonymous buyer for the equivalent of four billion. He turned out to be a close friend, and possible decoy, to the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.
If the museum in Abu Dhabi came across the painting from the saudis as a gift, a loan or a sale is not known, but now it appears the speculation that bin Salman decided to keep the painting for himself.
transparency in the auction states that the painting was shipped to Europe after the purchase. According to the american professor Dianne Modestini, who worked to restore the painting, an insurance company hired an art expert to inspect the work in Zurich. But the inspection was cancelled, and then to cool the tracks.
– It is tragic. To deprive art lovers and so many others who were moved by this painting – such a rare masterpiece – is deeply unfair, says Modestini to The New York Times.