Salvator Mundi

Around 1500, in Milan, Leonardo da Vinci's workshop was turning out one image again and again: Christ as Salvator Mundi, the Saviour of the World, facing the viewer with one hand raised in blessing, the other resting on a clear crystal orb. This small panel, a little under half a metre high, is one of those pictures, given to Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, who trained under Leonardo himself. It was made for private prayer, meant for a bedroom or a study rather than an altar, which is why it feels so close and quiet. The soft light on the face and the patient modelling are the lessons Boltraffio took from his teacher, while the steady frontal gaze follows a devotional formula Milanese painters repeated for patrons who wanted Christ looking straight back at them. It came to Sofia through the state purchases of European art that Bulgaria began at the end of the 19th century.