London museum says it will show a lost Leonardo

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NEW YORK (AP) -- An oil painting recently authenticated as the work of Leonardo da Vinci will be on display at the National Gallery in the fall as part of a larger exhibition on the Renaissance artist, the London museum said Monday.

"Salvator Mundi," which dates to around 1500, depicts a half-length figure of Christ with one hand raised in blessing and the other holding an orb.

The National Gallery said in a statement Monday that the work was shown to its director, curator and other art scholars after undergoing conservation that was completed in 2010.

"We felt that it would be of great interest to include it in the exhibition as a new discovery," the museum said, adding that its curator Luke Syson "is cataloging the picture as by Leonardo da Vinci and this is how the picture will be presented in the exhibition."

"This will obviously be the moment to test this important new attribution by direct comparison with works universally accepted as Leonardo's," the museum said.