The Latest: Leonardo Christ painting sells for record $450M

NEW YORK (AP) - The Latest on the auction of a painting of Christ by Leonardo da Vinci (all times local):

7:50 p.m.

A rare painting by Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci of Christ holding a crystal orb has sold for a record $450 million (380 million euros) at a New York auction.

The painting, "Salvator Mundi," Italian for "Savior of the World," was sold Wednesday by Christie's auction house.

The highest price paid for a work of art at auction had been $179.4 million (152 million euros), for Picasso's "Women of Algiers (Version O)" in May 2015, also at Christie's in New York.

The highest known sale price for any artwork had been $300 million (253 million euros) for Willem de Kooning's "Interchange" in September 2015, which was sold privately.

Scholars believe the Leonardo painting is one of few works by Leonardo to survive the centuries since his death and the only one in private hands.

___

12:15 a.m.

A painting thought by scholars to be one of only a few by Leonardo da Vinci to have survived the half-millennia since the artist's death is set to be auctioned Wednesday in New York

The 500-year-old oil painting depicting Christ holding a crystal orb is called "Salvator Mundi" or "Savior of the World."

It has been guaranteed by a backer to sell for at least $100 million (85 million euros).

Christie's is the auction house conducting the sale. It says it is the only painting by the Renaissance master in private hands.

Christie's has exhibited the painting in Hong Kong, San Francisco, London and New York in the weeks prior to Wednesday's sale.