New Leonardo mystery: Machiavelli portrait found at Valençay, Salvator Mundi intrigue deepens at Rivoli

A newly discovered 1874 document at the Château de Valençay in the Loire Valley mentions a portrait of Niccolò Machiavelli attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, adding to the enigmas surrounding the Renaissance master. The painting, found last spring, depicts a bald, bearded gentleman of uncertain age. Meanwhile, the Salvator Mundi saga continues: sold for $450.3 million at Christie's in November 2017 to Abu Dhabi's Department of Culture and Tourism, the work was expected at the Louvre Abu Dhabi but never arrived. A Paris exhibition on October 24 featured a version by a pupil instead. A version owned by the Fondo Edifici di Culto (Italian Ministry of the Interior) is in Naples' San Domenico Maggiore church. Now, Castello di Rivoli director Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev has curated a show, D'après Leonardo, extended until January 5, 2020, presenting another possible Salvator Mundi version from the Collezione Cerruti. The new painting replaces Marco d'Oggiono's Madonna col Bambino (c. 1516), on view until November 3, then moving to Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan for the exhibition Leonardo e la Madonna Litta (November 7, 2019 – February 10, 2020).