Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is the buyer of a painting by Leonardo da Vinci that sold for a record $450.3 million last month. That is according to U.S.
government intelligence and a Middle East art-world figure familiar with the purchase.
The disclosure offers a rare glimpse inside a rivalry among Middle East royal families to scoop up some of the world’s masterpieces. Prince Mohammed used a proxy to buy “Salvator Mundi.” The purchase amounts to his art-world debut, placing him atop a short list of wealthy newcomers willing to pay more than $100 million for a piece of art.
But it also comes at a fraught political moment for the 32-year-old Saudi leader, who is trying to portray himself as a reformer determined to root out corruption in the oil-rich kingdom.
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