Pre-20th Century

“The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding,” Leonardo da Vinci once wrote. From ancient sculptures to Renaissance sketches, centuries-old artworks often prompt a study of art history, inviting viewers to learn more about the context that brought these objects to life. At auction, record-breaking works of pre-20th-century art include Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvador Mundi (c. 1500) for $450 million, Su Shi’s Wood and Rock (1071–1101) for $59 million, and Peter Paul Rubens’s Massacre of the Innocents (1611) for $77 million.