Visitors look at a self-portrait of Italian master Lenardo Da Vinci during the ' Leonardo, Il genio, il mito' (Lenardo, the genius and the myth) exhibition on November 21, 2011 at the Reggia di Venaria near Turin. The self portrait which will be displayed until January 29, 2012, had been shown to public only two times during the last century, once in 1929 and the other time in 2006 at Turin's library. - AFP Photo

TURIN: A rare self-portrait by Leonardo da Vinci that has only been publicly shown twice and is insured for 50 million euros ($67 million) has gone on display in the city of Turin in northern Italy.

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 show in 1929 and 2006. It is being displayed under special shock-proof glass case filled with sensors.

It will be on show until January 29 at the Reggia di Venaria, a 17th-century former royal residence near Turin as part of an exhibition entitled “Leonardo: The Genius and the Myth” including 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 lived and died in a manor house in Amboise in 1519.