![\"Owned](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Madonna_of_the_Yarnwinder.jpg\" "\\"Madonna_of_the_Yarnwinder.jpg\\"")
Owned by Miami Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, the rarely seen Madonna of the Yarminder is now hanging at New York\u2019s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Metropolitan Museum of Art <\/p>\n
The Madonna of the Yarnwinder dates to about 1501 and was painted during da Vinci\u2019s mature period. It predates da Vinci\u2019s masterpiece, the Mona Lisa, which he began around 1503.<\/p>\n
The painting appeared at the Met with little fanfare or even a press release, but was discovered by the art media last month. It\u2019s evidence, art experts say, that Griffin has added an Italian Renaissance masterpiece to his collection. The Madonna of the Yarnwinder<\/a> had been privately owned for more than two decades before appearing at the Met.<\/p>\n A Miami stop for painting? It is unknown if there are any plans in the works for Griffin to loan the painting to a South Florida museum. A question posed on the topic has not been answered.<\/p>\n Griffin recently lent 10 works by Jean-Michel Basquiat to the P\u00e9rez Art Museum Miami for \u201cBasquiat: Figures, Signs, Symbols.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Franklin Sirmans, director of PAMM,<\/a> who praised Griffin\u2019s art collection, said the da Vinci is unlikely, for now, to come to the Miami museum.<\/p>\n \u201cWe exhibit the works of painters from the last 100 years,\u201d Sirmans said. \u201cThis work is from the 1500s. … But never say never.\u201d<\/p>\n Until now, Griffin has been best known for his appetite for modern and postwar masterpieces. He has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on works by Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Jasper Johns and Basquiat, helping make him one of the most powerful buyers in the international art market.<\/p>\n The da Vinci broadens that picture, art experts theorize.<\/p>\n Griffin, whose fortune is estimated at about $50 billion, is now entering the far rarer world of Old Masters, where paintings by da Vinci are so scarce that private ownership itself is extraordinary. Only a handful of da Vinci paintings remain in private hands, while most are held by major museums and institutions.<\/p>\n Griffin\u2019s collection already extends well beyond modern art. He owns historic copies of the U.S. Constitution and Apex, a roughly 150-million-year-old Stegosaurus skeleton that he purchased for $44.6 million in 2024.<\/p>\n According to Artnet, Griffin acquired the da Vinci in a private transaction through Christie\u2019s in 2024. The purchase price has not been disclosed. Art experts have estimated that a painting of this significance could be worth about $200 million or more.<\/p>\n If the Madonna of the Yarnwinder is eventually valued in that range, it would rank among the most valuable individual works in Griffin\u2019s collection \u2014 and potentially among the most valuable paintings held privately anywhere in the world.<\/p>\n And Griffin has increasingly made his acquisitions available to the public.<\/p>\n David Millar, a spokesman for Citadel, said Griffin provided the following statement about the painting and its loan to the Met:<\/p>\n \u201cI am excited that the Met\u2019s global audience can experience its artistic beauty and genius firsthand,\u201d Griffin said in a statement to the Miami Herald.<\/p>\n The Met is expected to keep the painting on view through 2028. Griffin will then lend it to the Nivaagaard Collection in Niv\u00e5, Denmark.<\/p>\n \u201cLeonardo da Vinci is one of the defining artists and thinkers in human history, and the Madonna of the Yarnwinder is an astonishing treasure that continues to inspire both creative imagination and scholarship,\u201d Griffin said in his statement.<\/p>\n A Leonardo in private hands The painting depicts the Virgin Mary holding the Christ child, who grasps a cross-shaped stick used to wind yarn. The composition exists in two principal versions. The other, known as the Buccleuch Madonna, has long been displayed publicly in Scotland.<\/p>\n Griffin\u2019s version is distinguished by its Alpine landscape in the background.<\/p>\n Its attribution and history have attracted extensive scholarly attention. Between 2002 and 2006, the painting underwent major research and restoration at the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence. Researchers used X-rays and CAT scans to examine what lay beneath the visible surface.<\/p>\n They discovered a hidden detail: a basket of spindles beneath several layers of Leonardo\u2019s characteristic sfumato technique.<\/p>\n The painting was displayed at the Louvre in Paris in 2019 during an exhibition marking the 500th anniversary of da Vinci\u2019s death.<\/p>\n Griffin\u2019s expanding collection<\/p>\n The da Vinci is not Griffin\u2019s only recent Old Master acquisition.<\/p>\n He was also recently revealed as the anonymous buyer of Artemisia Gentileschi\u2019s Self-Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria,<\/a> which sold for $5.7 million at Christie\u2019s, Artnet said. Both paintings will be on display at the upcoming Denmark exhibit.<\/p>\n For now, visitors to the Met can see what may be one of the world\u2019s most valuable privately owned Renaissance paintings.<\/p>\n The loan also offers a glimpse into the increasingly expansive ambitions of one of the world\u2019s wealthiest collectors.<\/p>\n![\"Ken](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/MIA_47TRUMPAMERICABUSINESSFORUM.JPG\" "\\"MIA_47TRUMPAMERICABUSINESSFORUM.JPG\\"")
Ken Griffin, the billionaire founder and CEO of the hedge fund Citadel, has spent more than $700 million amassing real estate in Miami\u2019s financial district. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n Owned by Miami Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, the rarely seen Madonna of the Yarminder is now hanging at New York\u2019s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Metropolitan Museum of Art <\/p>\n