World’s priciest painting not a full da Vinci, claims doc     

A French documentary has cast fresh doubts over the world's most expensive painting, the "Salvator Mundi" credited to Leonardo da Vinci, revealing a resulting diplomatic tussle between France and its Saudi owner. The painting of Jesus Christ, nicknamed the "male Mona Lisa", was sold at a 2017 Christies auction in New York for a record $450 million.

Its secret buyer was later revealed to be Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, though this is still denied in Riyadh. But there have long been questions over whether it was entirely the work of da Vinci. The issue resurfaced when the painting failed to appear as planned at the Louvre Abu Dhabi museum in 2018, and then at a blockbuster da Vinci show by the Louvre in Paris the following year.  

Now a documentary, "The Savior for Sale" by filmmaker Antoine Vitkine, to be premiered on French TV next week, sets out to reveal what was going on behind the scenes. In the film, senior officials from President Emmanuel Macron's government, appearing under pseudonyms, confirm that the Louvre's scientific analysis of the painting concluded that while it was produced in da Vinci's workshop, the master himself only "contributed" to the painting. This apparently went down badly with the Saudis. 

"Things turned incomprehensible," says one of the French officials in the film. "The request by "MBS" (bin Salman) was very clear: Show the Salvator Mundi next to the Mona Lisa, and present it as 100 percent a da Vinci."  The Saudis offered various deals, the official says, but his recommendation to the Elysee was that this would amount to "laundering a $450 million artwork."

The documentary alleges that some members of the French government, including Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, lobbied on behalf of bin...