The Strange Saga of the Salvator Mundi | Part 2

The media and public at large had been fooled into believing that the Salvator Mundi is an undisputed Da Vinci. But could the art dealers find a buyer with deep pockets?

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Abridged script:

Robert Simon, an art dealer in New York, had just convinced the public that he had discovered a lost painting by Lenorado Da Vinci. The academic consensus was divided if this was a real Da Vinci, or a collaborative work with one of his students. Nonetheless, it was featured in the National Gallery in London as an authentic Da Vinci painting. It was time for Simon to cash in.

He had hoped to sell it to a museum in the United States with an asking price of 100 million dollars. Asking for 100 million dollars for a heavily restored, possible Da Vinci, is a tall order, and no museum was interested, except for the Dallas Museum of Art. It’s curator, Maxwell Anderson, admitted that he was rolling the dice on this painting. However, he wasn’t able to shore up enough philanthropic donations to bring the Salvator Mundi to the lone star state. The philanthropists of Dallas were uneasy about buying a maybe Da Vinci. Some didn’t even like the painting, with one calling it “a faggy looking Jesus.”

It was time to start looking for a private buyer, one who could afford the 100 million dollar price tag, and was less discerning than the boosters of the Dallas Art Museum.

Dmitry Rybolovlev is a Russian oligarch who made his fortune in extracting minerals for fertilizers. Like most Russian Oligarchs, he has a history of controversy. He has been accused of causing the biggest environmental disaster since Chernobyl, murdering one of his business rivals, hiding his wealth in Panama during his divorce, and he bought a mansion in Palm Beach for almost twice its value in a possible money laundering scheme. Rybolovlev was interested in the Salvator Mundi, and had deep enough pockets to afford this painting of Jesus. He had already been collecting fine art for a few years, with some speculating his collection as a means of money laundering and tax evasion. Whatever his motives, he wanted the Salvator Mundi.

Rybolovlev hired the services of Yves Bouvier, who had already purchased other pieces on Rybolovlev’s behalf. After researching the history of the Salvator Mundi, Bouvier warned the oligarch. He urged caution given the dispute over authorship and the heavy restoration. He advised the oligarch that it should only be purchased as a decorative painting and nothing more. Despite this warning, Rybolovlev instructed his partner to start negotiating a price.

Bouvier was able to negotiate the price down to $80 million, plus a $3 million commission to the auction house hired by Simon. However, Bouvier told the oligarch that the selling price was $127 million, plus his commission fee of course. He went as far as to provide falsified negotiations that showed the final price was $127 million. Unaware of the scam in progress, Rybolovlev agreed to the $127 million price tag. Bouvier had just made about $40 million dollars in one day of work.

He had covered his tracks well, forcing the auction house to sign an ironclad non-disclosure agreement, and it is common for auction houses to respect privacy. From their perspective, Bouvier was the buyer and not an intermediary. But the scam was accidentally exposed by journalist Scott Reyburn, who reported that the painting was sold for between $75-80 million. The journalist was unaware of Bouvier’s 40 million dollar markup. When the oligarch caught wind of this, he was not amused.

Instead of immediately reacting, Rybolovlev laid a trap for his Swiss partner. He invited Bouvier to his apartment in Monaco, to pay him for his dealings on a Rothko painting. Upon entering the lobby, Bouvier was immediately arrested on the charges of fraud and money laundering. His bail was set at 10 million euro.

The fertilizer oligarch mounted more civil cases against his former advisor, accusing him of committing fraud on all of their art dealings to the tune of 1 billion dollars. Other parties would file criminal and civil charges against Bouvier, which included accusations of stolen Picassos and peddling forgeries. The whole debacle became known as The Bouvier Affair.