ITALIAN COPS RECOVER STOLEN 500-YEAR-OLD COPY OF ‘SALVATOR MUNDI’

A 16th-century copy of Leonardo da Vinci's "Salvator Mundi," the world's most expensive painting at $450.3 million, has been recovered by Italian police after it was stolen from a museum in Naples, Oscar Holland reported for CNN late on January 19, 2021.

The artwork, which was likely painted by one of the Renaissance master's students, was discovered at an apartment during a search in the Italian city, according to a police statement. The property's 36-year-old owner was found nearby and taken into custody on suspicion of receiving stolen goods.

The portrait was modeled on Leonardo's famed depiction of Christ with one hand raised in blessing and the other holding a crystal orb. Numerous copies of the work were made during the artist's lifetime by his students and assistants.

Although it is not known who created this particular "Salvator Mundi," it is thought to have been painted towards the end of the 1510s by someone from the artist's workshop. The portrait's owner, the Museum of San Domenico Maggiore in Naples, said on its website that there are "several hypotheses" about the painter's identity, with the "most convincing" theory crediting Leonardo's student Girolamo Alibrandi.

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