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Salvator Mundi, attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, is the highest-priced Renaissance painting with a verified auction result in the records cited here: Christie’s sold it in New York for US$450,312,500, including buyer’s premium, on 15 November 2017. The available records do not substantiate a complete, comparable top ten, so presenting ten ranked works as fact would be misleading.
What are the 10 most expensive Renaissance paintings ever sold?
A reliable top-ten list cannot be established from the available auction-house records. Five documented results offer useful points of comparison, but they are not enough to fill ten places or prove the order of a complete ranking. The figures below are reported in the currencies and terms provided by the auction houses; the pound and dollar amounts are not directly ranked against one another.
| Painting | Artist and attribution | Reported auction result | Sale |
| Salvator Mundi | Attributed to Leonardo da Vinci | US$450,312,500, including buyer’s premium | Christie’s, New York, 15 November 2017 |
| Young Man Holding a Roundel | Sandro Botticelli | US$92.2 million | Sotheby’s, New York, 28 January 2021 |
| The Man of Sorrows | Sandro Botticelli | US$45.4 million | Sotheby’s, 2022 |
| The Rest on the Flight into Egypt | Titian | £17,560,000 | Christie’s, London, 2 July 2024 |
| The Rockefeller Madonna (Madonna and Child with Young Saint John the Baptist) | Sandro Botticelli | US$10,442,500 | Christie’s, 2013 |
Christie’s describes Salvator Mundi as the most expensive painting sold at auction. Sotheby’s described Botticelli’s Young Man Holding a Roundel as the second most valuable Old Master painting sold at auction at the time of its 2021 sale. Those are auction-house statements tied to their respective records, not proof of a current, consistently defined Renaissance top ten. Christie’s 2017 sale account and Sotheby’s 2021 account document those headline results.
#1 Best Overall
Which Renaissance painting sold for the most?
Salvator Mundi is the leading verified auction result among the works documented here. Christie’s reported a price of US$450,312,500 including buyer’s premium when it sold the painting in New York on 15 November 2017. The figure is a total sale price, not merely the hammer price. Christie’s lot record gives the sale result.
Why the attribution needs qualification
Christie’s presented Salvator Mundi as a Leonardo da Vinci painting. Its account says conservator Dianne Modestini concluded it was an autograph work by Leonardo after documenting its condition and conservation. That is Christie’s account of the attribution case; the painting’s attribution remains contested in broader discussion. It is therefore more accurate to call it “attributed to Leonardo da Vinci” than to state authorship as settled fact. Christie’s attribution account explains the auction house’s position.
Rank #2
How the other documented results compare
Botticelli’s Young Man Holding a Roundel
Sotheby’s reported that the portrait sold for US$92.2 million in New York on 28 January 2021. The auction house noted its rarity among Botticelli portraits in private hands and called it the second most valuable Old Master painting sold at auction at that time. Sotheby’s sale account supports the result and its historical context.
Botticelli’s The Man of Sorrows
Sotheby’s reports a US$45.4 million result in 2022 and describes it as Botticelli’s second-highest auction result after Young Man Holding a Roundel. The record is useful evidence of another major Renaissance painting sale, but does not by itself establish where the work belongs in a comprehensive all-artist ranking. Sotheby’s account reports the result.
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Rank #3
Titian’s The Rest on the Flight into Egypt
Christie’s reported a sale price of £17,560,000 in London on 2 July 2024. It describes the painting as an early work by Titian. The result is stated in pounds; comparing it numerically with dollar prices would require a transparent exchange-rate basis and date, neither of which is supplied here. Christie’s lot record gives the sale details.
Botticelli’s The Rockefeller Madonna
Christie’s records US$10,442,500 in 2013 for Madonna and Child with Young Saint John the Baptist, also known as The Rockefeller Madonna. Christie’s results page includes other Renaissance lots as well, which is a reminder to verify that a candidate is a painting—and not a drawing, print, sculpture or another Old Master object—before including it in a painting ranking. Christie’s Renaissance sale records include the result.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why a definitive ranking requires more than headline prices
“Most expensive” sounds straightforward, but a credible ranking depends on consistent eligibility and price rules. A list can change depending on which Renaissance traditions and dates it includes, whether it counts disputed or workshop attributions, and whether it compares public auctions with private transactions.
- Object type: Include paintings only; exclude drawings, prints, sculpture and other Old Master works.
- Sale type: Separate public auction results from private sales, which may not be publicly documented or comparable.
- Price basis: State whether the figure is the hammer price or includes buyer’s premium.
- Currency: Keep currencies distinct unless conversions use a named exchange-rate source and date.
- Attribution: Identify whether a work is firmly attributed, assigned to a workshop or circle, or disputed.
- Period scope: Define which dates and geographic traditions qualify as Renaissance.
Without applying those rules to every candidate and checking each against its sale record, filling the remaining five places would imply a certainty these documented results do not provide.
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