r/RenaissanceArt

In 2017, Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi shocked the world when it sold for $450.3 million. Yet behind its record-breaking price lies a centuries-old mystery: the crystal orb held by Christ. If the orb were solid, basic optics suggest that the robes behind it should appear distorted. Instead, they remain strangely undisturbed. Was Leonardo making a scientific mistake, or was there something more deliberate at work? Three major theories emerged, from divine symbolism and Renaissance artistic conventions to modern computer simulations. The final theory suggests Leonardo may have painted a hollow glass sphere with astonishing optical accuracy—possibly proving that the “mistake” was actually genius.