Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi Revisited – Personal Style, Workshop Style, Global Brand?

Organisation: Prof. Dr. Frank Zöllner, Dr. Johannes Gebhardt.

The conference focusses on key issues posed by Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi, a painting which was revealed to the public for the first time in 2011. These include questions of personal style, the provenance of the painting, Leonardo's workshop practice and the image production of his circle. In addition, there will be detailed analyses of the pictorial form of the Salvator Mundi as well as an exploration of the sales and advertising strategies of the protagonists from the international art market and the media, who played such a significant role in the transformation of the painting into a global icon. The conference thus covers a spectrum which ranges from issues of personal style to the machinations of the global art market.

THURSDAY, 13 October 2022

17.30 Welcome and Introduction
Frank Zöllner, Introduction: Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi Revisited – Personal Style, Workshop Style, Global Brand?

19.00 Dinner

FRIDAY, 14 October 2022

Personal Style: Design and Execution, Chair Moritz Lampe/ Rudolf Hiller von Gaertringen

9.30 Jacques Franck (Paris), Leonardo's Role as a Painter in the Context of his Numerous Activities c. 1500-1517, Illustrated with the Saudi Salvator Mundi and other Studio Works

10.00 Martin Clayton (Royal Collection Trust, Windsor Castle), The two Drapery Studies at Windsor

10.30 Discussion
11.00 Coffee

11.30 Pietro C. Marani (Politecnico, Milan), Un contributo e un bilancio sul Salvator Mundi saudita: a proposito di tecnica e stile

12.00 Margaret Dalivalle (Oxford), Christ Remastered: Leonardo’s Unorthodox Icon

12.30 Discussion
13.00 Lunch

Leonardo and his Workshop, Chair Armin Bergmeier

14.30 Antonio Forcellino (Rome), Modello disegnato, e repliche dipinte. Il lavoro nella bottega di Leonardo dopo la partenza da Milano

15.00 Maria T. Fiorio (Milan), Boltraffio e il tema del Salvator Mundi

15.30 Matthew Landrus (University of Oxford), Leonardo’s Workshop Associates, Bernardino Luini and the Salvator Mundi

16.00 Discussion
16.30 Coffee

The Sacred Image, Chair Evelin Wetter/ Johannes Gebhardt

17.00 Chrysa Damianaki (Università del Salento, Lecce), ‘Io t’ubbidisco, Signore, prima per l’amore che raggionalmente portare ti debbo’: Il carattere spirituale del Salvator Mundi leonardiano.

17.30 Philipp Zitzlsperger (Universität Innsbruck), Christ’s Garments

18.00 Philine Helas (Bibliotheca Hertziana, Rome)/ Jeanette Kohl (University of California, Riverside), Silent Eloquence. The Salvator Mundi as Bust

18.30 Discussion
19.30 Dinner

SATURDAY, 15 October 2022

Marketing and Branding, Chair Nadja Horsch

9.30 Ben Lewis (London), The Leonardo and the Carpet Dealer: The first Campaign to sell the Salvator Mundi

10.00 Johannes Nathan (Potsdam/ Zürich), Reflections on the Market for Old Master Paintings in Light of the Salvator Mundi

10.30 Coffee

11.00 Filip Vermeylen (Erasmus University Rotterdam), Leonardo goes East. The Rise of Markets for Visual Arts in Asia

11.30 Günter Bentele (Berlin/ Leipzig), Communication Matters: how PR and marketing strategies made the Salvator Mundi the most expensive work of art ever

12.00 Final discussion
13.00 Lunch
14.30 Guided tour of the city