The crystal orb in Christ's hand might also reveal something: it doesn't magnify or invert what's behind it, as solid glass would. Leonardo (an expert on optics) would have known that Christ's robe would be distorted through it.

Perhaps the painter is suggesting a miraculous quality: a ball that contains no distorting inner imperfections, symbolic of Christ's nature.

Could only a genius like Leonardo think of that?

If this really is a lost Leonardo, what is it worth?

Well, that might depend on what it's worth to the buyer...

The painting hasn't been seen since the auction. The bidder was anonymous, but it's now believed to reside on Saudi prince Mohammed bin Salman’s superyacht — nobody knows for sure.

Today’s art world is plagued by accusations of tax evasion and money laundering (many of them proven). We see splashes of paint sell for millions and wonder: is name value enough to drive prices, or is something else going on?

The Salvator Mundi fetched around 4x what was expected in 2017. There is undoubtedly more going on here, but in this case it's far more than financial trickery...

Saudi Arabia is of course attempting to buy its way onto the world’s cultural stage. That's why it overpays to incentivize film producers to shoot at its facilities, and showers sports icons with cash to move home.

It's speculated that the painting will soon show up on display in a new museum Saudi Arabia is building. A British art historian who helped attribute it to Leonardo was (allegedly) summoned to inspect it.

In 2018, it was pulled from premiering at the Abu Dhabi Louvre, and the Paris Louvre was denied a request to loan it.

The Louvre wanted to attribute it to the workshop of Leonardo, not Leonardo himself — that would have been disastrous for the buyer.

So why it still not on display? Doubts about the authenticity perhaps?

With Saudi Arabia's grand cultural ambitions in mind, new analysis of the painting could shatter more than just the price tag...

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