A 500-year-old painting believed to be by Leonardo da Vinci sold for $450.3 million in New York on Wednesday, smashing a new world record for the most expensive work of art sold at auction, Christie's said.

The stunning price for "Salvator Mundi," which depicts Jesus Christ, more than doubled the previous record of $179.4 million paid for Pablo Picasso's "The Women of Algiers (Version O)" in New York in 2015.

Lost for years only to resurface at a regional US auction in 2005, Christie's says it is one of fewer than 20 Da Vinci paintings generally accepted as being from the Renaissance master's own hand.

All the others are held in museum or institutional collections.

Dated by Christie's to around 1500, the oil on panel sold after 19 minutes of frenzied bidding in a historic sale, the star lot of the November art season in the US financial capital.

The price throws shade at its Russian billionaire seller, who has sued a Swiss art dealer in Monaco for allegedly swindling him into parting with $127.5 million for the work in