A painting of Christ by Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci has sold for US$ 450 million at auction in New York, obliterating previous records. The 500-year-old oil painting depicting Christ holding a crystal orb, called Salvator Mundi — or Saviour of the World — is one of fewer than 20 paintings by Leonardo da Vinci known to exist.
A painting by Francis Bacon of his friend and fellow artist Lucian Freud has become the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction after it fetched 142 million dollars in New York. The triptych, Three Studies of Lucian Freud (1969), is considered one of Bacon's greatest masterpieces.