LAST LEONARDO

The documentary filmmaker and art critic Ben Lewis tells the story of the world's most expensive painting in formidably researched detail. His patient historical investigation into the history, discovery and sales of Leonardo da Vinci's last painting the Salvator Mundi establishes the truth ? like nailing down jelly. He unravels the complex and often murky history that led to the final sale of the painting for 450 million dollars in a story populated by characters like the soft-spoken but ambitious art dealer, the Russian oligarch in the middle of a messy divorce, the shadowy Swiss storage king who sidelines as a dealer, the Saudi prince eager to polish his reputation with high art. Lewis interweaves the many threads into the story of the dramatic restoration, sale and resale of the Salvator Mundi, and casts serious doubts on its authenticity as an autographic work. It is hard not to be enraptured with what is a pacy detective story as Lewis finds troubling facts that undermine the authenticity of the painting and suggests that the lawyers are going to be kept busy at auction houses, as art buyers, galleries and art historians are asked awkward questions. He thunders that the painting is the most vivid symbol of 'dysfunctionality within the ecosystem of art'. There is so much money at stake it makes your head spin and here is a twisting tale of conspiracies, money-laundering, double-crossing and disappearances from Leonardo's studio to Christie's Auction House with sheikhs and academics fighting over a 500 year old painting of Christ - which may or not be by Leonardo da Vinci - and which has now disappeared. 407pp, paperback, colour photos.