A rarely seen self-portrait by Leonardo da Vinci that is insured for $67 million has gone on display near the Italian city of Turin.
The self-portrait of the Renaissance master as an elderly man is kept in the Royal Library in Turin where it has only gone on public display twice previously, in 1929 and 2006.
It is being displayed through the end of January under special shock-proof glass case lined with sensors, according to Agence France-Presse.
The work, being shown at the Reggia di Venaria, a 17th-century former royal residence near Turin, is part of an exhibition titled “Leonardo: The Genius and the Myth.”
In all, the exhibition includes 30 drawings and writings about the work.
“It’s a sort of introduction to the major exhibition that will be held in Amboise (in central France) from May 2, 2019, for the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo,” said the exhibition’s curator, Carlo Pedretti.
Da Vinci, born in 1452, is said by some to have been the most diversely talented person to have ever lived.
His abilities included painting, sculpting, architecture, engineering, writing, science, music and mathematics, and Leonardo has often been described as the archetype of the Renaissance Man
Da Vinci’s most famous works include the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper.
(Above: Visitors look at da Vinci’s self-portrait at the Reggia di Venaria near Turin. Photo by Agence France-Presse.)
The Cotton Boll Conspiracy 