PRESS
THE LOST LEONARDO / 2021
The film opens by introducing the two American art dealers, Alexander Parish and Robert Simon, who buy a painting titled "After Leonardo" at a 2005 auction in New Orleans auction for $1,175. Both think the work is a "sleeper", a painting that is by a much better artist than realised, although neither considers it is actually by da Vinci. They show it to New York art restorer Dianne Modestini, who cleans away the overpainting and discovers the position of a thumb has moved, suggesting the painting is an original. She also finds that the lips are drawn with no line, a technique common to other da Vinci paintings, and which she took as a sign that the work was indeed by da Vinci. Modestini completes an extensive restoration of the work that lasts from 2005 to 2013 in an attempt to bring it back to its original condition. Parish and Simon engage art dealer Warren Adelson.
In 2008, they present the work to a curator of the British National Gallery, Luke Syson, who invites five Leonardo experts including Maria Teresa Fiorio and Martin Kemp to view the picture, but he is ambiguous about whether they ever formally authenticated it as a painting by da Vinci; Fiorio says she did not authenticate the piece. In 2011, Syson controversially includes it in a National Gallery exhibition of da Vinci's works with the label, "by Leonardo da Vinci". Sotheby's are then engaged to sell the painting with an asking price of $200 million but find little interest. German art historian Professor Bernd Lindemann of the Gemäldegaleriedeclined the painting for purchase saying: "Most of the painting is a remake and this was, for me, the argument to say, 'No, this is not a painting for the Gemäldegalerie'". German Leonardo expert Frank Zöllner is also interviewed, saying: "You have the old parts of the painting which are original—these are by pupils—and the new parts of the painting, which look like Leonardo, but they are by the restorer. In some part, it’s a masterpiece by Dianne Modestini". The film then alludes to Modestini's financial interest in the painting the details of which she declines to disclose, saying: "He [Simon] paid me generously".
The film then introduces businessman Yves Bouvier, a developer and owner of Freeports, and describes how he has become an art dealer in his own right due to the amount of art that clients have deposited in his Freeports around the world. The film explains how high-end art has become a tool for wealth management by people who need to be able to physically carry and secretly move large amounts of wealth around the world outside of the banking system. In 2013, Bouvier showed the painting to Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev who engages him to purchase the work. Bouvier hires a professional poker player to negotiate with Sotherby's and agrees on a price of $83 million, but he tells Rybolovlev the price is $127.5 million. When Rybolovlev discovers the deception and realizes that there have been numerous other deceptions, he legally pursues Bouvier (known as The Bouvier Affair), who tells the film he has since lost everything.
In 2017, Rybolovlev hires Christie's to sell his entire portfolio and they market the painting as the "male Mona Lisa" and create a promotional video that includes Leonardo DiCaprio.[5] The painting breaks the previous record for an art sale selling for $400 million, with an additional $50 million of commission to Christie's.[4] Word leaks that the buyer is Mohammed bin Salman and that the painting is being kept on his yacht.[4] The film switches to a 2019–20 da Vinci exhibition at the Louvrewhere the painting is expected to be shown. In advance of the exhibition, bin Salman visits the Louvre with Emmanuel Macron and a publication appears in the museum's shop that authenticates the painting as being by da Vinci. However, in a dramatic twist, the painting fails to appear at the exhibition and the publication is removed from the shop with the Louvre denying that it was an official Louvre publication. The film ends by speculating that bin Salman pulled the painting as the Louvre would not show it alongside the Mona Lisa, and that he might instead be planning to show it in a new dedicated museum in Saudi Arabia.
Director
ANDREAS KOFOED
Writers
ANDREAS DALSGAARD
ANDREAS KOEFOED
CHRISTIAN KIRK MUFF
DUSKA ZAGORAC
MARK MONROE
Producers
ANDREAS DALSGAARD
CHRISTOPH JÖRG
Edited by
NICOLAS NØRGAARD STAFFOLANI
Music by
SVEINUG NYGAARD
Cinematography by
ADAM JANDRUP