Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reportedly used a minor member of the royal family as a ‘proxy’ to buy the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction last month, at a time when the kingdom was rounding up billionaire princes and businessmen in a so-called campaign against corruption.
Citing sources, including unidentified US intelligence officials, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that bin Salman was the secret buyer of Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci’s painting, the Salvator Mundi, which sold for a record $450 million at auction last month.
The much-sought-after painting, portrait of Jesus Christ, was officially bought by little-known Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan Al Saud, who has no history as an art collector and no publicly declared source of wealth, The New York Times revealed on Wednesday.
A source familiar with the art world in the Middle East told the Journal that Bader is a “proxy” for bin Salman, known by his initials MBS.
Sources from the US intelligence community said MBS is the “ultimate customer” although Bader is the official buyer, according to the Journal.
Documents provided by a Saudi source and reviewed by The Timesrevealed that Bader was not presented as a bidder until the day before the 15 November sale in New York.
He was such an unknown figure that executives at auction house Christie’s scrambled to establish his identity and wealth.
Bader, who is said to be a contemporary and apparently close friend of MBS, reportedly told Christie’s his fortune was made in “real estate,” and submitted a $100 million deposit to qualify for the auction and as a starting bid.
He reportedly comes from a minor branch of the royal family, the Farhan , which does not trace its lineage to the founder of the modern kingdom, Abdulaziz ibn Saud.
The purchase came just days after Riyadh launched a crackdown on more than 200 of the richest Saudi princes, businessmen and government officials on the orders of Saudi Arabia’s so-called Anti-Corruption Committee headed by bin Salman.
Famous billionaire Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal was among the notable figures detained as part of the purge.
Reports revealed last month that Saudi Arabia was using US mercenaries to torture the detainees, with MBS himself conducting some of the interrogations.
Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer, told The Journal that “the image of the crown prince spending that much money to buy a painting when he’s supposed to be leading an anti-corruption drive is staggering.”
Salvator Mundi – dated to around 1500 – is the last known Da Vinci in the hands of a private collector. It was long believed to be a copy but was finally authenticated about a dozen years ago.
On Tuesday, the Saudi attorney general said the majority of the high-profile figures in detention had agreed to cash settlements in exchange for their freedom.
Saudi Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, a son of the former Saudi king, had been freed a week earlier after reaching a $1-billion “acceptable settlement agreement” with the kingdom’s authorities.
Posts
Thank you for reaching out to us. We are happy to receive your opinion and request. If you need advert or sponsored post, We’re excited you’re considering advertising or sponsoring a post on our blog. Your support is what keeps us going. With the current trend, it’s very obvious content marketing is the way to go. Banner advertising and trying to get customers through Google Adwords may get you customers but it has been proven beyond doubt that Content Marketing has more lasting benefits.
We offer majorly two types of advertising:
1. Sponsored Posts: If you are really interested in publishing a sponsored post or a press release, video content, advertorial or any other kind of sponsored post, then you are at the right place.
WHAT KIND OF SPONSORED POSTS DO WE ACCEPT?
Generally, a sponsored post can be any of the following:
Press release
Advertorial
Video content
Article
Interview
This kind of post is usually written to promote you or your business. However, we do prefer posts that naturally flow with the site’s general content. This means we can also promote artists, songs, cosmetic products and things that you love of all products or services.
DURATION & BONUSES
Every sponsored article will remain live on the site as long as this website exists. The duration is indefinite! Again, we will share your post on our social media channels and our email subscribers too will get to read your article. You’re exposing your article to our: Twitter followers, Facebook fans and other social networks.
We will also try as much as possible to optimize your post for search engines as well.
Submission of Materials : Sponsored post should be well written in English language and all materials must be delivered via electronic medium. All sponsored posts must be delivered via electronic version, either on disk or e-mail on Microsoft Word unless otherwise noted.
PRICING
The price largely depends on if you’re writing the content or we’re to do that. But if your are writing the content, it is $60 per article.
2. Banner Advertising: We also offer banner advertising in various sizes and of course, our prices are flexible. you may choose to for the weekly rate or simply buy your desired number of impressions.
Technical Details And Pricing
Banner Size 300 X 250 pixels : Appears on the home page and below all pages on the site.
Banner Size 728 X 90 pixels: Appears on the top right Corner of the homepage and all pages on the site.
Large rectangle Banner Size (336x280) : Appears on the home page and below all pages on the site.
Small square (200x200) : Appears on the right side of the home page and all pages on the site.
Half page (300x600) : Appears on the right side of the home page and all pages on the site.
Portrait (300x1050) : Appears on the right side of the home page and all pages on the site.
Billboard (970x250) : Appears on the home page.
Submission of Materials : Banner ads can be in jpeg, jpg and gif format. All materials must be deliverd via electronic medium. All ads must be delivered via electronic version, either on disk or e-mail in the ordered pixel dimensions unless otherwise noted.
For advertising offers, send an email with your name,company, website, country and advert or sponsored post you want to appear on our website to omodjk(at)gmail(dot)com
Normally, we should respond within 48 hours.