In the matters of the art world, once seen as the most pristine of all the avenues of careers and livelihoods, it has become a mecca of high price wanna-bes and terrorists or just not worth the ticket to the museum.
For one thing, the item on display is not always what it says. The experts will tell you what they know, but where did the experts get their knowledge? From a textbook, word of mouth, or plan expertise through practice.
For the most part, they are simply told such and such and they repeat the information. After decades of research and traveling with my grandparents who knew a little more about art as well as meeting actual artists as well as thieves in the world of art, I was appalled at the lectures I received at the University of California.
I even saw with my own eyes, a Keene painting listed as a Salvador Dali. Everyone who knows the modern artists, knows the difference between their works of art. The Impressionist might be harder to decipher but really, a Salvador Dali instead of a Keene?
As for Da Vinci, he was known far and wide for his science. At the time art was part of the science world. He seems to have been a friend of many rich peoples. He worked on his science projects, got corrected by the Catholic churches and yet had Royal patrons who admired his works.
One wonders what he was really doing, I am not talking of espionage or anything worse but there were so many secret societies and inability to perform or speak in public due to the many inquisitions surrounding Rome at the time, which had a finger on every Monarchy.
Now about that finger, namely the Salvador Mundi attributed to Da Vinci with his finger pointing upwards. This is considered a classical pose but there are many things wrong with this painting.
For one thing, the Mona Lisa, as we know her, he is called the male Mona Lisa, was painted over and over again by the man, or at least he and his friends kept copying the lady. There are told to be at least two dozen different copies and some experts have a hard time telling them apart.
And it is said in some circles, the one hanging on the wall, is not the original or the real painting he worked on himself. Another thing about the art world, Masters have schools and students. Just as at a college, an instructor will not give a student a passing grade and then turn around and use their information or knowledge or ideas for themselves is considered a normal part of academia, when in fact intellectual property is thought to be owned by the individual according to the legal courts.
Most artists train under others, and then make a name for themselves. After a success, they in turn train others or employee others to complete their work. We don't appreciate it when our dentists or doctor only starts a procedure and then lets the janitor or the janitors daughter finish the job, do we?
Anyways, it said Michelangelo actually painted the entire Sistine Chapel and did not employ anyone to help him. This might be true but there are many artists whose works are suspect between Master, student, copyists and forger. In Da Vinci's case, he worked alone for the most part but also employed a staff of assistants as was expected for his status in the community.
It is interesting this painting in particular is said to be the most expensive. It is listed at 450 million dollars, half a billion dollars for a man holding his finger upwards. And bought by an Arab prince, it is supposed to be on display at one of their museums.
I am a museum goer, don't get me wrong, but a half a billion worth of paint on canvas is a lot of viewing. The problem is that the Arab world does not usually appreciate Christian works of art, and for buyers it is difficult to access some middle age works as not offensive to the new owners.
One would not put Christian works such as Salome dancing in a Jewish family museums such as the Hammer, they actually have John the Baptist on a platter on display as a family item. Nor would one by the Christ or Savior for Muhammad followers.
Not unless there was something special about this painting. One thing is it has been restored and not correctly. The eyes are different in the before and after photos. There is a really bad representation going around of a restorer making the Madonna into a street prostitute with his rendition of what he thought she should look like.
Restorers are supposed to be highly trained. They are supposed to know what they are doing. It is odd, that modern art world now has fluffy instructors, legal aids with stilettos, and obvious conmen sitting inside galleries. Most of the viewers are disrespectful and have even ruined items in order to get selfies. There is one marble goddess missing her toes, now that someone sat on her in order to prove she had gone to the museum.
As for this little boy, he said to be the Christ, the savior of the world. He is dressed in Renaissance style, not uncommon. And he is holding a clear globe suggesting the world and intellectual thought. The raised finger is suggesting heavens as any good art professor will tell you.
Jesus may not have been a poor man as Master of his own work shop as a carpenter with international connections and having worked with his father on architecture as well as furniture making. He certainly possessed knowledge of the Hebrew scriptures and spent time socializing with others. He appears to have known more of the world than to assume he did not come out of a woman but that his father was from above and not from the imagination of a scared teenage girl who just wants someone else to take the blame for her unfortunate condition.
As for Da Vinci, he did a number of religious works, traveling broadly in order to complete them. He was a master of his style and often depicted females. He had a delicate hand in how he showed a female in profile. His many drawings, only a few are turned to the side completely, most of his works show a head at an angle, giving a full 3-D effect.
The Salvador is the only painting I can find online whose face is straight on, front view only. No turned head, no profile, and the human quality of a 3D effect is lost with restoration. His eyes don't look right and his face is just blaw looking.
His hand is turned sidewise for the viewer to see his fingers and hand. This is where most experts claim suspicion as his fingernails can clearly be seen and they just don't like the hand at all in the painting.
There is the possibility that the hand was painted by one person and the face by another. There is also the issue of it being commissioned as a square on portrait for someone in particular. It does look like a work of Da Vinci's and it does not. There is not the full landscape behind nor the suggestion of wizardry he usually employees.
Even his self portraits are turned at an angle as if he is looking at you the viewer. Employing a mirror to do this is not unusual. There is also the idea this might have been a self portrait. It looks like a young Da Vinci, and might have been done by someone else in his youth. Or he might have just wanted to recreate his youth and drew it from his memory of what he remembered looking like.
So, is this painting worth half a billion dollars? Is it really for an Arab buyer? Or is it personal possession for someone who wants a little bit of everything. Or is it a work of someone else, that is being passed off as a a Master? It is hard to tell, as almost no journals or other written hard copy evidence is available.
Only the critics taking it apart and the academia putting it back together. The modern scholars were trained by WWII veterans who had no idea of what they were dealing with but listened to the archivist and others left behind in the Museums. Most of the experts were killed, while Hitler amassed a great stock of works for some reason. If he thought he was going to win the war, why so much removal of the items? And what was he planning to do with them, after the war?
Museums need not close, but the mouths of unintelligent lectures and badly trained artist who think a glob of paint is worth being paid. Meanwhile, this might be a Christ painting, a portrait of someone or just an icon for others to identify in order to gain access to their own non Christian club where they get to mouth off at how smart they are with no real practical knowledge.
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