Leonardo da Vinci's painting of Christ fetches $450 million

New York: A 500-year-old work of art — believed to be by Leonardo da Vinci and depicting Jesus Christ — sold in New York for $450.3 million, smashing a new art auction record, Christie’s said. The whopping price dwarfed the previous record for the most expensive piece of art sold at auction, set at $179.4 million for Pablo Picasso’s “The Women of Algiers (Version O)” by Christie’s in 2015.

The auction house says “Salvator Mundi” or “Savior of the World” is one of fewer than 20 Da Vinci paintings in existence that are generally accepted as from the Renaissance master’s own hand. All other known paintings by Da Vinci are held in museum or institutional collections. Dated back by the auction house to around 1500, the oil on panel sold after 18 minutes of frenzied bidding in a historic sale, the star lot of the November art season in the US financial capital.