- The missing $450 million "Salvator Mundi" is reportedly actually on the superyacht of Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.
- Sources told Artnet on Monday that the artwork attributed by many to Leonardo da Vinci had been flown to the crown prince's $565 million boat where it will remain for the foreseeable future.
- Storing art onboard superyachts is a growing trend among the world's elite.
- "Salvator Mundi" has been at the centre of controversy for years as experts dispute its provenance.
- Visit INSIDER's homepage for more stories.
After the controversial "Salvator Mundi" by Leonardo da Vinci sold for a record-smashing $450 million in November 2017 at Christie's in New York, things went fairly quiet.
The Louvre Abu Dhabi was scheduled to display the painting in September 2018, but the exhibition was inexplicably postponed, and the painting faded back into limbo.
On Monday though, Artnet reported that the painting had been residing on the superyacht of its owner, Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Citing "two principals involved in the transaction," Artnet's Kenny Schachter said that "Salvator Mundi" was "whisked away in the middle of the night on MBS's [Mohammed bin Salman's] plane and relocated to his yacht, the Serene."
The crown prince's superyacht, Serene, is narrowly more valuable than "Salvator Mundi"— the royal bought the boat while vacationing in France from Russian vodka tycoon Yuri Shefler for 500 million euros ($565 million) in 2015, according to The New York Times' sources.
The boat had previously been let out to Bill Gates for the princely sum of $5 million per week.
According to Schachter's sources, the painting will remain onboard Serene until the crown prince "finishes transforming the ancient Saudi precinct of Al-Ula into a vast cultural hub."
Using MarineTraffic, an app that tracks vessels including superyachts, The Guardian was able to track Serene's current location to Port Said, an Egyptian city at the northern end of the Suez Canal.
Storing art on yachts is part of a growing trend among the world's ultra-rich.
In an interview with the Observer in February, British art historian and conservator Pandora Mather-Lees said that there are superyachts with "better collections than some national museums."
This is an issue in itself as paintings can easily become damaged onboard. Mather-Lees, who acts as a consultant for yacht crews caring for high-end artwork, shared horror stories of children throwing cornflakes at a multi-million dollar Jean-Michel Basquiat because "they thought it was scary," then crew making it worse by trying to wiping it off.
Similarly, the insanely wealthy's drink of choice — champagne — can be a real issue with cork damage causing very expensive restorations, in one instance after a multi-million dollar artwork was struck by the projectile.
"Salvator Mundi" (meaning "Savior of the World" in Latin) has been shrouded in controversy since its discovery as experts have fiercely debated its provenance.
While Christie's claimed that a 2011 exhibition of the painting in London's National Gallery "sealed its acceptance as a fully autograph work by Leonardo da Vinci," not all experts agree.
Last month, the painting was dropped by the Louvre in Paris for its exhibition celebrating 500 years of da Vinci because its curators do not believe it can be attributed solely to the artist.
One of the world's leading da Vinci experts also criticized Christie's after it said she was among scholars who had attributed the picture to the famous artist.
Dr Carmen Bambach, a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, told the Guardian: "That is not representative of my opinion."
Indeed, it may not be in the crown prince's best interest to exhibit the piece at all, according to art historian and writer Ben Lewis who wrote a book about "Salvator Mundi."
"My inside sources at the Louvre, various sources, tell me that not many curators think this picture is an autograph Leonardo da Vinci," told the Hay literary festival, according to The Guardian.
"If they did exhibit it … they would want to exhibit it as 'workshop.'
"If that's the case, it will be very unlikely that it will be shown, because the owner can't possibly lend it … the value will go down to somewhere north of $1.5m (£1.2m)."
"It is the painting that dare not show its face," Lewis added.