Lost Leonardo da Vinci painting discovered

Art admirers of the world rejoice as Leonardo da Vinci's long lost masterpiece, "Salvator Mundi" (or "Saviour of the World") has been found and restored.

Art admirers of the world rejoice as Leonardo da Vinci's long lost masterpiece, "Salvator Mundi" (or "Saviour of the World") has been found and restored.

Once shrouded in mystery the public will son be able to view the piece for the first time at the London National Gallery this coming winter as part of the "Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan" exhibition.

The 26-by-18.5-inch oil painting depicts Christ cradling a globe in one hand while his other is raised in blessing.

The painting was passed on from King Charles I to his son, Charles II. For the next two centuries, its whereabouts became unknown "until it turned up in the possession of Sir Francis Cook, a 19th-century British collector," the Telegraph reports.

In 1958, "Salvator Mundi" was sold for a mere £45 ($69 CAD), as collectors assumed it had been painted by da Vinci's pupil, Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, not the master himself.

As restorers scraped off the grime and varnish, they began to suspect that da Vinci was the true artist.

"It had been heavily overpainted, which makes it look like a copy. It was a wreck, dark and gloomy. It had been cleaned many times in the past by people who didn't know better. Once a restorer put artificial resin on it, which had turned gray and had to be removed painstakingly. When they took off the overpaint, what was revealed was the original paint. You saw incredibly delicate painting. All agree it was painted by Leonardo,"Robert Simon, an Old Masters specialist and one of the painting's owners said.

If the painting goes up for auction, one suspects it could sell for a record $200 million. Simon insists "the picture is not on the market," dismissing speculation that a $100 million offer was turned down.