A recently rediscovered Leonardo Da Vinci painting valued at $192 million may find a new home at the Dallas Museum of Art, a spokeswoman for the museum said on Friday.
The Salvator Mundi (Savior of the World) is currently at the Dallas Museum of Art and the museum has been "actively exploring the possibility of acquiring it," communications officer Jill Bernstein told Reuters.
The painting, an image of Christ giving his blessing to the world with his right hand and holding a crystal orb in the left, was among the highlights of the Leonardo Da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan exhibition at the National Gallery in London last year.
The Dallas Museum's interest was first reported by Art in America magazine, which said Maxwell Anderson, the museum's new director, may be looking for "a destination painting" to attract crowds.
Da Vinci's painting, dated around the early 1500s, measures 65 by 46 centimetres. Commissioned by Louis XII of France in 1506, it was once documented as part of England's King Charles I's art collection in 1649, then auctioned off and forgotten.
The oil-on-wood panel, with the image distorted over time by overpainting and layers of dirt and varnish, was sold in 1958 for as little as $70 Cdn when it was considered to be the work of one of Da Vinci's students called Giovanni Boltraffio.
In 2005, it was taken to New York art historian Robert Simon, and eventually an extensive restoration was performed.
Experts then noticed some of Da Vinci's hallmarks in the work, especially the colours and the reflection of light from the orb, and the piece was declared a genuine work by the Italian Renaissance artist.
