Hoax! Podcast – “Salvator Mundi” (October 13, 2025)

Main Theme / Purpose

This episode of Hoax! delves into the tangled, improbable, and sometimes absurd history of the “Salvator Mundi”—a painting attributed (at times) to Leonardo da Vinci that became the most expensive artwork ever sold. Co-hosts Dana Schwartz and Lizzie Logan unpack the multi-layered saga of attribution, art world intrigue, restoration controversy, and high-stakes art investment, questioning what authenticity and value even mean in a world rife with scams, self-deception, and marketing spin.

Episode Breakdown

I. Setting the Stage: What is the Salvator Mundi? (02:17–09:00)

• Dana confesses her limited knowledge: “I can sort of picture it in my mind's eye... maybe by Leonardo da Vinci. And it sold for a lot of money. I think that's the extent of what I know about it.” (02:47)
• Lizzie gives a playful disclaimer: This isn’t a single-mastermind hoax, but a tale “with hoaxism, hoaxification, hoaxicity” – a many-faceted story of deception, wishful thinking, and “flimflammery, scammety, happening in multiple directions over the course of a number of years.” (03:16–03:52)
• Background on da Vinci: Not a solitary artist; his famous workshop, filled with pupils and assistants (“Leonardeschi”), meant authorship was always murky.
  • Dana jokes: “So like James Patterson writing a book.” (06:18)
• The painting “Salvator Mundi” (Latin for ‘Savior of the World’) is an art motif: Jesus, one hand raised in blessing, the other holding a globe. Numerous versions and copies existed from Da Vinci’s studio.

II. A Forgotten Jesus Painting Emerges in Louisiana (09:00–13:40)

• In the 2000s, an overlooked, poorly restored “ugly Jesus painting” goes unsold at a New Orleans estate sale and lands online.
• Robert Simon and Alexander Parrish, mid-tier art dealers, buy it—for somewhere between $1,200 and $10,000, depending on the version told. “That's not... That is under 10,000.” (12:06)
• They bring in restorer Diane Modestini in New York, who soon forms an intense, perhaps emotional, connection to the work as she restores it in the aftermath of her husband’s death.

III. Clues and Convictions: Is It a Da Vinci? (13:40–18:46)

• Modestini finds a “pentimento”—a painted-over thumb—suggesting an original creative process, not a mere copy.
  • She’s struck by the uncanny resemblance to the Mona Lisa’s mouth. “I've only ever seen this mouth on one other painting, the Mona Lisa. ...This painting is by da Vinci.” (16:51)
• Meanwhile, attempts to trace the painting’s provenance are inconclusive.
  • “They track it back to, like, the 50s... the painting goes in and out of history.” (17:13–17:49)
• Post-Da Vinci Code, “Da Vinci mania” fuels public interest and increases the allure of a lost masterpiece.

IV. The Expert Panel and Aesthetics of Uncertainty (18:46–34:32)

• The National Gallery, London, reluctantly takes a look after repeated, usually-ignored claims of “lost” da Vincis.
• A group of curators and scholars gather. There’s no consensus, only widely diverging expert opinions:
  • One claims: “This painting is by da Vinci. ...it's such a good painting that only da Vinci could have done it.” (31:22)
  • Another: “Da Vinci was such a genius, he never could have painted such a bad painting.” (32:09)
  • Most say: It’s likely a workshop piece, with da Vinci perhaps touching up the hands or curls.
• Restoration controversy: Modestini’s extensive overpainting (“the joke at the time: this belongs in a contemporary art museum because it was painted in 2005” – 33:43) leads some to call it “a really beautiful painting by Diane Modestini.” (33:21)
• Despite lack of clear consensus, National Gallery displays it in their 2011 da Vinci exhibition simply as “by Leonardo da Vinci.”

V. The Art Market: Deal-Making, Deception, and the Freeport Mafias (34:32–45:55)

• With the National Gallery’s “blessing,” owners seek $100–200 million, but no museum bites; the painting is tainted by repeated rejections.
• Enter the shadowy world of ultra-rich collectors: Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, advised by “freeport” mogul Yves Bouvier, buys the painting via an elaborate web of shell companies and intermediaries, adding confusion to its provenance and sales price.
  • Yves secretly flips the painting for nearly $50 million profit, sparking lawsuits when Dmitry learns, via media reporting, he was massively overcharged—a “hoax” within a “hoax.”
  • “This is sort of the hoax of the episode, but really it’s just a guy doing a job and a guy who wasn’t paying close enough attention.” (43:32)

VI. Christie's & the Marketing Machine: The Last Da Vinci (45:55–52:57)

• Christie's, tasked with auctioning Rybolovlev’s collection, brings unprecedented hype:
  • Outside marketing firm, blockbuster branding: “The Last Da Vinci.”
  • Dramatic displays, video campaigns showing people (including Leonardo DiCaprio) tearing up before the painting—turning acclaim into self-fulfilling prophecy.
  • Media parrots Christie's marketing: “Now tell me, why do they call it the male Mona Lisa?” (48:36)
• Dana’s critical self-awareness: “If you tell almost anyone this painting is amazing and it’s important, and it’s probably by Leonardo da Vinci... they’ll believe you.” (48:19)
• The co-hosts highlight that art value is entirely subjective—a function of stories and branding as much as inherent quality.

VII. The Auction: The World's Most Expensive Painting (57:30–59:19)

• Fierce phone bidding brings the hammer price to an astonishing $400 million ($450.3M with fees), shattering auctions records.
• Buyer revealed (after leaks and tipoffs) as the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammad bin Salman (MBS).

Notable Quote

• Dana: “Jesus. ...They should feed the hungry children. It’s not great that people are paying this much for a picture that maybe was by da Vinci. And even if it was, what then, who’s that gonna feed?” (58:05)

VIII. The Disappearing Masterpiece: Politics, Culture, and Hoaxicity (59:19–77:34)

• It’s odd for a Muslim crown prince to buy a painting of Jesus (depicting prophets is generally forbidden under Islam).
• Promises that it will go to the Louvre turn out to mean “Louvre Abu Dhabi.” Yet, after shipping to Saudi Arabia, the painting mysteriously vanishes—never displayed, not even at the new Abu Dhabi location.
• Reportedly, MBS wanted it displayed “next to the Mona Lisa” in Paris—a demand even the Louvre would not satisfy. The Louvre quietly shelves their purported attribution report; the saga stalls in embassies, palaces, and private yachts.
• Lizzie observes: The painting’s value and narrative kept compounding like a “paperclip for a house” trade—“just by sheer people, just more and more people adding their name to it turned it into $450 million.” (75:32)
• Dana’s summation: “The entire art world is just a shell. Nothing is worth that much money. So it’s all just investing for your tax purposes and your tax havens, whatever. So it’s all silly and stupid.” (47:52, reprised at 76:14)

IX. Closing Thoughts / The Larger Hoax

• Where is the painting now? No one’s sure: “People think it might be on his [MBS’s] yacht. Nobody knows where it is.” (72:19)
• The question of authenticity: Is it even still a da Vinci after so much restoration? Is attribution just a consensus, a “brand”?
  • Lizzie: “To me, this whole thing was really reminding me of the Ship of Theseus. ...What is a da Vinci? Is anything he touched with his paintbrush even once a da Vinci? ...It is for sure a Modestini. Like, she painted large parts of that canvas.” (73:34)
• Both hosts agree: For all the intrigue, it’s still not a very compelling painting—but its story is mesmerizing.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “It is a story with hoaxism. It is a story with hoaxification. It is a story with hoaxicity around it.” – Lizzie (03:16)
• “Hoaxisms in the air. Flimflammery, scammety, happening in multiple directions over the course of a number of years.” – Lizzie (03:52)
• “Yeah, they were roommates. And they were roommates.” – Running joke about da Vinci and Salai (05:34)
• “If a painting is valued above a certain amount... you should have to display it like four weeks a year. ...People should be allowed to see it.” – Dana (73:00)
• “Value, especially value when it comes to art, is inherently subjective. ...Also, is the entire art market money laundering? Yeah, 100%.” – Dana and Lizzie (76:02–76:18)
• “This story reminds me... of the Office Garage Sale episode where Dwight starts with a thumbtack and trades his way up to a telescope.” – Lizzie (75:19)

Timestamps for Major Segments

• Introduction and premise: 02:17–04:12
• Da Vinci’s studio & authorship issues: 04:13–09:00
• Discovery of the painting: 09:00–13:40
• The restoration and emotional connection: 13:40–15:40
• Debates on attribution/provenance: 15:40–18:46
• National Gallery meets “hoaxicity”: 18:46–34:32
• The modern art market, billionaires, and Freeport loopholes: 34:32–45:55
• Marketing and “The Last da Vinci”: 45:55–52:57
• Auction and record sale: 57:30–59:19
• Post-sale: Crown prince, culture clash, and disappearance: 59:19–73:34
• Concluding philosophical questions: 73:34–77:34

Tone & Style

The hosts balance scholarly art history with breezy, irreverent humor and pop culture analogies (“James Patterson writing a book,” “graduation photo,” “Da Vinci Code fever”), while persistently interrogating why we want to believe in masterpieces—and what “authenticity” really means in a world where millions hinge on consensus and branding. Their lively exchanges underscore the shifting, unstable territory between facts, frauds, hype, and hope.

This episode provides not just a roller-coaster story of mistaken identity, marketing wizardry, and ultra-wealthy maneuvering, but an incisive, witty critique of the machinery that turns hoaxes and uncertainties into some of the world’s most valuable commodities.