Now that Liu Dong has enough money in his pocket, making money is no longer his most important consideration, but the pursuit of quality of life is indispensable.
And unlike in the UK, houses still have 70-year property rights. Here, private ownership is practiced. If you buy it for 50 million pounds, you will own the more than 3,200 square meters of land, plus all the buildings on it, and you can continue to inherit it in the future.
Go down.
Therefore, after being satisfied with the layout of the entire villa, Liu Dong was already inclined to buy it.
"Don't worry, Xiaoxue, we have the money to buy the villa, and I'm not in a hurry for money now. I'll just buy this manor as an investment. Didn't you say that the real estate industry in London is very promising now?" Liu Dong comforted.
"But, isn't 50 million pounds too much?" Mei Xue whispered.
Habits and ways of thinking that have been developed over a long period of time are not easy to change. I think Liu Dong was the same way back then.
"It doesn't matter, I can still get the money. Besides, this villa will be my betrothal gift to you."
"Who wants your bride price? I haven't agreed to marry you yet."
After scolding her in a cute voice, Mei Xue, who was sweet in her heart, said nothing more.
After settling her down, Liu Dong breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Zhan Nings who was waiting eagerly beside him: "I bought this villa. When can I go through the transfer procedures?"
"It can be done now," Zhan Nings, who was overjoyed, said quickly.
If this business is successful, his commission will be at least 500,000 pounds, which is a huge sum of money for Jennings.
"Okay, let's go up," Liu Dong said.
"Please"
Driven by the power of money, today's Jennings has become more respectful in attitude
Because he had to go through the transfer procedures, Liu Dong didn't have time to hang out with Edward, Chen, Melissa and the others. However, the two of them didn't care about it. After all, Liu Dong would stay in London for a lot of time.
After Liu Dong decided to buy the villa, Eskenazi briefly chatted with him and left quickly.
He was also busy counting and sorting out the Chinese art in his collection. Fortunately, after Liu Dong bought the manor, he quickly sent them over and took away the Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece that he had longed for half his life.
Because Liu Dong paid in full, the transfer procedures went quickly. In just two days, after paying a large amount of taxes, the entire manor was already in his name.
Because the villa was fully furnished and due to time constraints, Liu Dong did not want to make any major changes. Therefore, after cleaning the entire manor and replenishing some bed sheets, quilts, tableware, and some daily necessities, Liu Dong and Mei Xue
Moved in together
In order to make life more convenient, Liu Dong hired some bodyguards and servants through a housekeeping service company in London, which finally made the whole villa look less empty and less popular.
After things settled down in the villa, Liu Dong became busy with the art exchange with Eskenazi.
In order to transfer these antiques to one's own name in a fair and open manner, one must go through the customs of China and the United Kingdom. Fortunately, with the help of Dennis Eskenazi, the export of a total of 1,186 precious Chinese works of art was not subject to any restrictions by the British customs.
However, the oil paintings Liu Dong bought from the auction and the few paintings he finally selected were temporarily kept by him.
Liu Dong didn't want to go through customs this time, otherwise he would definitely be investigated. Especially the manuscripts of Shakespeare. It was impossible for the British to let the precious manuscripts of the most famous playwright in their country's history flow out of the country.
Moreover, Liu Dong also wanted to see with his own eyes the treasure he had finally acquired, which was the painting "The Last Supper" that Eskenazi called a fake.
In fact, Mei Xue was also curious as to why Liu Dong chose this anonymous fake instead of so many better works of art.
"Fake? I'm going to say it's the real work of Leonardo da Vinci?"
After listening to Mei Xue's words, Liu Dong looked at the paintings placed against the wall in the treasure house and smiled mysteriously and contentedly.
"The original? Isn't Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper" collected in the Santa Maria delle Grazie Monastery in Milan, Italy? And that is a mural, this is an oil painting on canvas. There are also two paintings.
The size is not right. In addition, although I don’t know much about oil paintings. But when I traveled to Italy, I once saw the true appearance of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” mural in a monastery. In terms of pure artistic level, it is better than this
The painting is much higher, and the characters in this oil painting look a little dull."
Looking at Mei Xue, who was slightly frowning, Liu Dong smiled and said, "I didn't expect you, Xiaoxue, to know so much about oil painting?"
"I just have my own opinions, but they are not as good as a great connoisseur like you." Mei Xue wrinkled the back of her nose and said coquettishly.
After smiling, Liu Dong turned around and said, "Do you want to know why I am sure it is Leonardo da Vinci's last work?"
Mei Xue opened her eyes wide and looked back and forth between Liu Dong and the painting for a few times before saying in surprise: "Do you really think this painting is the work of Leonardo da Vinci?"
"Of course, if there is nothing of equal value, do you think I would exchange Da Vinci's painting? That is a national treasure-level work of art that is rare in a century," Liu Dong said with a smile.
"But, but, wasn't "The Last Supper" set in Italy?" Mei Xue still couldn't convince herself to believe it, even if this sentence came from her lover.
"The Last Supper is in Italy, but who said that Leonardo da Vinci must have painted the Last Supper?" Looking at the oil painting erected on the wall, Liu Dong showed a smile on his face.
.
Based on his understanding of Leonardo da Vinci, although this guy was extremely talented, he had made amazing achievements in everything from oil painting, sculpture, music, science, technology, machinery, etc.
But as the saying goes: No one is perfect, Leonardo da Vinci was also a somewhat narrow-minded guy. After he finished painting the "Mona Lisa", he kept this painting privately because he liked it too much.
This can be seen from the fact that he refused to give the painting to the Grand Duke of Milan
It can also be seen from this that if he liked his work too much, his first choice would definitely be to keep it himself
"The Last Supper" is Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece, and its artistic level has definitely reached the pinnacle of his oil painting level. Leonardo da Vinci, who spent a lot of energy on this, definitely wants to stay.
But this is a mural. If you can't take it with you, it's natural to repaint a work that is relatively small and easier to carry.
In fact, many painters have this habit. Otherwise, the "Mona Lisa" would not have more than 60 paintings that are difficult to distinguish between true and false, and Munch's famous painting "The Scream" would not have the same four versions.
Got it
"But the level of this painting..." Although Mei Xue accepted Liu Dong's point of view to a certain extent, she also had her own doubts.
"Haha, someone put some disguise on this painting," Liu Dong said.
"camouflage?"
"Not bad" Liu Dong nodded.
It is difficult to paint a good painting, but it is very easy to destroy a painting. Although this painting has not been damaged, it is disguised very cleverly. There are not many moving places in the whole painting, but it is
Some of the most critical positions have been changed, making it look like the artistic level has dropped significantly, making it look more like a high-level imitation painting that has some age, rather than the real thing.
But being able to deceive Dennis Eskenazi's eyes, it is obvious that the person who concealed this oil painting was also a master appraiser, or a master of oil painting.
"Just wait a moment"
As he spoke, Liu Dong took out a carving knife, and under Mei Xue's curious eyes, he walked to the edge of the oil painting and began to scrape away from it, mainly where the head was.
It looks like scraping, but Liu Dong is actually using the relic Yuanguang to repair it. His actions at this moment are more of a cover-up.
After a short time, Liu Dong retreated.
"Would you like to see it again now?"
After Liu Dong retreated, Mei Xue, who could not wait to turn her attention to the painting, was immediately stunned when she saw it.
At this moment, the expressions of the thirteen characters in the painting are no longer dull as they were at the beginning, and have become much more lively. The places where the colors and lines seemed to be dragging and twisting have become completely smooth and unified, which has completely improved the level of the painting.
Up a level
Its artistic level is not inferior to the "Last Supper" mural by Leonardo da Vinci that she saw at the Santa Maria delle Grazie Monastery in Milan, Italy.
Looking at this oil painting now, Mei Xue somewhat believes that this painting is indeed the last work of Leonardo da Vinci.
"Dear, how did you know it was a work by Leonardo da Vinci?" Mei Xue asked curiously.
Since this painting was not authenticated by Dennis Eskenazi, a well-known connoisseur in Europe, how did Liu Dong identify it?
"Feeling" Liu Dongxin said nonsense.
And he had no choice but to expose the relic Yuanguang.
"Feeling?" Mei Xue's face was full of surprise.
"Yes, when I first discovered the oil painting of Leonardo da Vinci's "Savior of the World" in an antique store, I had the same feeling as when I saw this painting. Plus, I also authenticated it and found that although it had been used
The paint and varnish were somewhat disguised, but the color habits and level were very similar to Leonardo da Vinci's other paintings, so I was 70 to 80 percent sure. Plus Eskenazi
I am willing to give up so many antiques in exchange. As long as I don't suffer a loss, I am naturally willing to take a gamble. The current facts prove that I won the bet."
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………To be continued.
ps: Thanks to book friend zcf516scz for your monthly ticket support, thank you very much