Want to own a Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece but don't have hundreds of millions of dollars? An Italian nonprofit is now making it possible to purchase certified digital copies of Renaissance masterpieces for roughly the price of a luxury sports car. The last person to acquire a painting attributed to Leonardo da Vinci paid more than $450 million at auction, but now collectors can own a limited edition, certified digital copy of the Renaissance genius's "Lady with Disheveled Hair" for about the cost of a Lamborghini.
The Italian nonprofit Save the Artistic Heritage, working with its technical partner Cinello, is offering wealthy collectors the opportunity to own literal projections of original Italian masterpieces. These digital artworks are sized and framed to match the authentic museum experience. Participating museums sign certificates of authenticity for each piece and receive 50% of the profits from sales.
"We don't want to sell a piece of technology. We want to sell a piece of artwork," said John Blem, the Italian-born Danish entrepreneur who founded the initiative. Blem serves as chairman of Cinello and vice president of the nonprofit. The revenue sharing model is central to the project, which aims to help cash-strapped museums access new income streams.
Over the past two years, Save the Artistic Heritage has contributed 300,000 euros ($347,000) to its Italian museum partners. The digital masterpieces range in price from 30,000 euros to 300,000 euros, with each artwork sold in a limited series of nine copies. This number represents the conventional limit for casting statues from a single mold while still being considered original.
The catalog features approximately 250 Italian artworks from about 10 Italian museums and foundations. Partner institutions include the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan, the Capodimonte in Naples, and the Pilotta in Parma. The Pilotta owns Leonardo's unfinished painting on wood of a woman with windblown hair, which sold digitally for 250,000 euros (nearly $290,000). Blem and a partner are currently setting up a similar nonprofit in the United States, expected to launch next year.
The digital artworks appear backlit on screens sized to match their originals, creating a luminescent effect that borders on Technicolor for brightly colored masterpieces like Raphael's "The Marriage of the Virgin," which hangs in Milan's Brera Art Gallery. Other works displayed in the nonprofit's Milan offices, such as Leonardo's wind-swept portrait and Andrea Mantegna's "Lamentation over a Dead Christ," appear more subdued. Upon close inspection, details are visible down to individual brush strokes, though without the physical texture of the originals.
"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, director of the Brera Art Gallery. "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."
Digital technology has been gaining significant ground in the art world, including digital canvases and television sets that display rotating artworks and photographs. The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has experimented with two limited-time projects: textured, multidimensional scans of selected masterpieces in its Relievo partnership with Fujifilm, and the "Meet Vincent Van Gogh" interactive experience, which has been seen by more than 1 million people globally.
Luke Gartlan, head of the University of St. Andrews art history department, noted that Save the Artistic Heritage's project falls within a long tradition of Italian institutions using copies of artwork to support their activities and preserve their collections. "Italian museums, bodies, have been at the forefront of these technologies," he said, citing examples like the Alinari Archive in Florence, which contains over 5 million photographic materials dating from the mid-1800s, and the Vatican Museums' collaboration on ultra-high-resolution digital photography to create detailed records of the Sistine Chapel.
The Brera Museum recently launched another phase with Save the Artistic Heritage, introducing a second series of nine artworks that can be used to attract donors and for promotional purposes. Roman numerals distinguish these from the commercial series, reinforcing the fundraising mission. The Brera receives 30% of its roughly 14 million euro budget from donations, sponsors, and other projects, with only 10% coming from the state. The remainder comes from ticket sales, making any new revenue source particularly valuable.
"Save the Heritage is not just making a sale," Brera director Crespi explained. "They are creating a system that allows anyone who buys an artwork to contribute to the museum." This collaborative approach ensures that collectors become patrons of the institutions that house the original masterpieces.
The digital copies are projected onto screens sized to scale with original artworks in replica frames. The patented technology includes a secure box containing the digital copy that unlocks only when communicating with Cinello's mainframe. Computer code makes each digital copy unique and traceable. The technology is patented in Europe, the United States, and China, representing key markets where Blem plans to expand the initiative.
Looking ahead, Blem hopes to support "digital exhibitions" of masterpieces that are rarely or never loaned to other institutions. These exhibitions could bring world-class art to remote locations where access to museum-quality exhibitions is limited. He calls these ambitious projects "Impossible Exhibitions," envisioning a future where geographical barriers no longer prevent people from experiencing the world's greatest artistic treasures in high-definition detail.
