The last person to get their hands on a painting attributed to Leonardo da Vinci shelled out more than $450 million at auction. Now, the AP reports that Italian cultural officials are making it possible to purchase a limited edition, certified digital copy of the Renaissance genius' "Lady with Disheveled Hair" for roughly the price of a Lamborghini. The Italian nonprofit Save the Artistic Heritage with its technical partner Cinello are providing well-heeled collectors the possibility of owning a literal projection of original Italian masterpieces, sized and framed to match the museum experience. Participating museums sign a certificate of authenticity, and in return receive 50% of the profits.
"We don't want to sell a piece of technology. We want to sell a piece of artwork,'' said John Blem, the entrepreneur who founded the initiative and serves as chairman of Cinello and VP of the nonprofit. Revenue sharing is integral to the project, which aims to help cash-strapped museums access new income streams, Blem said. Over the last two years, Save the Artistic Heritage has contributed about $350,000 to its Italian museum partners, with prices of the digital masterpieces ranging from about $35,000 to about $350,000. Each is sold in a limited series of nine, representing the conventional number of statues that can be cast from a single mold and still be considered original.
The catalog of some 250 Italian artworks comes from about 10 Italian museums and foundations. Blem and a partner are setting up a similar nonprofit expected to launch in the US next year. The digital artworks appear backlit on screens sized to match their originals, the luminescent effect bordering on Technicolor for such brightly colored masterpieces as Raffaelo's "The Marriage of the Virgin," which hangs in Milan's Brera Art Gallery. Others like Leonardo's wind-swept portrait and Andrea Mantegna's "Lamentation over a Dead Christ," are more subdued. On close inspection, details are visible down to the brush stroke, but without any texture that may belong to the original.
"I must say that the digital copy of 'The Marriage of the Virgin' has aroused in me and all those who have seen it a great deal of interest,'' said Angelo Crespi, the Brera Art Gallery's director. "The perfection, the luminosity, the visibility of the painting is amazing. But at the same time it doesn't deceive. … When they get close, people can see that it's a digital copy on a screen."
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
