The Salvator Mundi was described as “one of fewer than 20 known paintings by Leonardo” when it sold for a record $450 million (£342 million) in 2017, only to disappear without trace amid increasing doubts about its attribution to the Renaissance master.

Months after the Louvre in Abu Dhabi suddenly cancelled its planned unveiling, the picture is now facing an apparent snub from the Louvre in Paris, which is understood to have cancelled plans to display it in its major Leonardo exhibition.

Jacques Franck, who has been a consultant to the Louvre on Leonardo restoration projects, told the Sunday Telegraph that politicians at the highest levels and Louvre staff, “know that the Salvator Mundi isn’t…

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