Sold by Dorotheum for a record 650 thousand euros for a drawing attributed to the workshop of Leonardo da Vinci

Record price for an unfinished pen-and-black ink drawing depicting the Salvator Mundi believed to have come from the workshop of Leonardo da Vinci: it was sold at an auction of ancient paintings by Dorotheum on April 29, 2025 for the remarkable sum of 650 thousand euros.

The work, recently discovered and dated 1504, was attributed by Cristina Geddo, after examining the original painting, to Fernando Llanos, a Spanish artist collaborator in Leonardo’s workshop, documented in 1505 as “Spanish Ferrando,” as stated in the text accompanying the lot. Two payments made on April 30 and August 30, 1505 testify that the painter collaborated with Leonardo on the lost mural painting of the Battle of Anghiari for the Sala del Maggior Consiglio in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence. The inscription on the back of the drawing “LA DA V / 1504” would, according to the text, emphasize the connection of this work with Leonardo’s Florentine period (1500-1506), and LA instead of a simple L would probably be understood as a form to prevent the misinterpretation of the monogram as “L[EONARDO] DA V[INCI]” instead of “LA[NOS] DA V[ALENCIA].” However, there remains a degree of ambiguity, perhaps intentional. The monogram and date may have been added by Llanos himself or another member of the workshop.

The unfinished drawing

The Salvator Mundi, dated 1504, reflects, reads the text accompanying the lot, “Llanos’s stylistic influences, which can be divided into four main components: his Spanish artistic heritage, the influence of Tuscan Renaissance culture, an echo of Dürer, and the obvious influence of Leonardo.” In particular, Leonardo’s influence "is evident in three elements, also present in the master’s famous Salvator Mundi, which was sold at auction in New York in 2017: the piercing gaze, which serves as the focal point of the composition; the shadowed orbital hollows around the eyes, which accentuate their intensity; and the treatment of the flowing hair, which spirals in a movement similar to water currents, a comparison explicitly mentioned in Leonardo’s own writings. Leonardo’s Treatise on Painting, compiled posthumously from his notebooks by Francesco Melzi, compares hair to water currents: he notes that both follow natural flow patterns, forming spirals and waves, emphasizing the importance of representing hair in fluid, dynamic movement in art."

“As one of the rare unfinished works from Leonardo’s workshop,” it reads, "the present Salvator Mundi is significant. The execution of the work seems to have been interrupted at the preparatory chiaroscuro drawing stage, including the basic drawing and modeling, without the final application of colored pigments.“ ”It is unclear why,“ he continues, ”the artist left this painting unfinished. Perhaps it was an experimental work. In any case, revisions and pentimenti are evident in the reworked areas, particularly around the tip of the nose, beard, chin, and hair. Corrections and retouches suggest a nonlinear creative process. The dark, intense, heavy brushstrokes used for corrections and modeling, particularly visible in the curls of the hair, could even belong to another hand, perhaps that of Leonardo himself? Some locks of hair in the present composition seem to have a freedom of execution that can be interpreted as typical of Leonardo and not of his assistant.“ ”The incomplete state of the present painting,“ it is specified, ”allows for an analysis of the methods of execution and invites stimulating comparisons with Leonardo’s two famous unfinished paintings, The Adoration of the Magi (Uffizi, Florence, inv. 1890 no. 1594) and Saint Jerome (Pinacoteca Vaticana, Rome, inv. no. 40337), both of which were interrupted at a more advanced stage of completion."

The technical report also specifies that this work “can technically be defined as charcoal ink on prepared panel” and that the panel “is in its initial stage of preparation, showing the drawing beneath. The careful drawing, traced with a fine brush, is both outlined and hatched to indicate larger shadows. This drawing is followed by a second graphic phase, which colors the shadows with the same ink, but more diluted, as if the painter wanted to achieve the idea of the desired final result for the chiaroscuro, and this is visible in the folds of the tunic and in the face.”

It is then pointed out that the letters of theinscription, particularly the curved shape of the V and the LA ligature, are “consistent with those of an early sixteenth-century hand, however, the two letters A may have been reinforced or added by a second hand. The first letter A is very faded in the ligature with the letter L. The technique is consistent with 15th-16th century painting practice.”

Who was Fernando Llanos?

Information about Fernando Llanos is rather scarce. He is believed to have been born in Valencia, the city where he probably trained and to which he returned to settle and work in 1506. At the time of his collaboration with Leonardo da Vinci in 1505, Llanos must have been between 25 and 30 years old.

After Leonardo abandoned the commission he received from the Signoria for the Battle of Anghiari and left for Milan, Llanos is presumed to have returned to Valencia. However, the identification of his biographical path is complicated by the presence of two Spanish painters, both named Fernando and both influenced by Leonardo’s style, documented in Valencia from 1506. The stylistic similarities and professional collaboration between the two have fueled heated debate among scholars regarding the real identity of Leonardo’s assistant.

Both Fernandos, for example, appear to have worked together on the High Altarpiece in Valencia Cathedral, which depicts scenes from the life of Christ and the Madonna. Some scholars have identified him as Fernando Llanos, while others lean toward Fernando Yáñez de la Almedina.

Sold by Dorotheum for a record 650 thousand euros for a drawing attributed to the workshop of Leonardo da Vinci

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