Yes, It’s a Leonardo. Stop Calling It a Fake.

What’s it the kids say on the internet? Oh, right. James Tarmy demolishes Jerry Saltz and the rest of the Leonardo authenticity doubters with his tour d’horizon of Old Master dealers.

Whatever one thinks about the sale of the Salvator Mundi, there’s a remarkable consensus on the work’s attribution that should have long ago banished the phrase “questions of authenticity” from any report that wants to be taken seriously:

“All of the most relevant people believe it’s by Leonardo, so the rather extensive criticism that goes ‘I don’t know anything about old masters, but I don’t think it’s by Leonardo’ shouldn’t ever have gone to print,” says British old masters dealer Charles Beddington. “Yes, it’s a picture that needed to be extensively restored. But the fact that it’s unanimously accepted as a Leonardo shows it’s in good enough condition that there weren’t questions of authenticity.”

Is the $450 Million Leonardo da Vinci Painting a Fake? (Bloomberg)