Two years ago, its owner bought the painting for $19,000. Pricey for most people. And this year the work sold again for the same price. So it would be fair to conclude that the worth of the portrait was equal to its price. Right?
Bob WeathersFor years the small portrait, called “La Bella Principessa,” was believed to be the product of a 19th century German artist. It depicts the delicate profile of a young Milanese woman, painted on vellum using pen, chalk and ink. Simple and relatively unremarkable.
But then a Canadian scholar, an expert in Renaissance art, speculated this might be the work of a well-known master and not a 19th century German painter after all. Others listened to him, including the new owner who submitted the work for closer scrutiny. That’s when investigators saw it. The unmistakable mark of a master.
Using state-of-the-art infrared technology, a forensics specialist located a fingerprint in the upper left corner of the work. With this technology experts matched the fingerprint to similar prints deposited on works of art by one of history’s most famous artists, a left-handed master who had a habit of being somewhat messy at times, leaving his prints on his media which he gripped in a flurry of creativity. The authentication was nearly irrefutable.
Leonardo Da Vinci.
Suddenly the painting’s value skyrocketed. Think $19,000 was pricey? Try $150 million. Or just say “priceless,” because that is what it all comes down to. After all, this is not the work of an unknown somebody somewhere. This is the work of the master.
What more evidence do you need to estimate value than to discover that the creator deposited his identity on his work?
That’s why God leaves behind irrefutable evidence, like fingerprints, that you were created by him, that you are a masterpiece in progress. Just in case you ever wonder about your value, that is.
You are created in his image (Genesis 1:27, Psalm 139:13-16). And as you live for Christ, God involves you in the wonderful, eternal plans that he designed for your life all along. You are his masterpiece in the making (Ephesians 2:10), bearing the fingerprints of your Creator.
So if you ever wonder about your value, consider the mystery solved.
Priceless.