First time in Kazakhstan: “The Beautiful Princess” of Da Vinci is on display in Astana

This unique opportunity was made possible thanks to the efforts of the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan together with the Embassy of the Italian Republic, and the Italian institute of culture.

Originally considered an early nineteenth-century German work, the portrait was recently attributed to Leonardo da Vinci by prominent scholars.

The striking portrait of a girl has an extraordinary and, in its own way, tragic story. As the organizers of the exhibition said at a press conference, the work was a gift for the girl’s upcoming wedding. It is made on one of the parchment pages of the book, which also became a gift for the wedding of aristocrats.

The sensual profile of the young woman shows many characteristic elements of clothing that not only fit together perfectly, but also allow the costume to be confidently dated to the last decade of the Quattrocento, namely the years between 1491 and 1497, when Beatrice d'Este was at the Sforza court in Milan.

Softly modulated flesh tones created from white and red crayons are shaded with the artist's hand. In places her skin is retouched with pastel and paint. Her eyes, shining against the parchment, are described with simple elegance, and her eyelids are fringed with incredibly thin, curved eyelashes.

“We wanted to present to you something extraordinary, unusual, unique in the context of promoting the culture that we consider fundamental between our countries. This year 2025 is an extraordinary year in relations between Kazakhstan and Italy. We needed to remember this exceptional year. Leonardo da Vinci is a symbol of everything that Italy is about: creativity, extraordinary talent and a vision for the future. Modernity is not just innovation, but innovation combined with tradition that changes the world,” says the ambassador of the Italian Republic to Kazakhstan Marco Alberti.

The portrait was studied in detail using multispectral scanning in the Parisian studio of Pascal Cotte. The technical examination revealed aspects of the technique unique to the hand of Leonardo da Vinci. CEO and founder of Scripta Maneant Giorgio Armaroli spoke about this in more detail.

The CEO and founder of the publishing house Scripta Maneant, Giorgio Armaroli, spoke about this in more detail.

“Under the image, thanks to the latest technology, we discovered an image of an eye and an ear in the style of Leonardo da Vinci. It is located behind the image of the girl. Da Vinci usually does portraits not in profile, but in full face, like the Mona Lisa. At first glance, the “princess’s” eyes seem empty, but in fact they express superiority. At the time of writing the work, the girl was pregnant. Also in the upper left corner was a fingerprint that matches Leonardo da Vinci's in 8 points,” says Giorgio Armaroli.

The title of the portrait was given by Martin Kemp, a British art critic and one of the world's leading authorities on the life and work of Leonardo da Vinci. Previously, the work was exhibited only 5 times in Italy, Milan, and Switzerland.

“I have always been admired by his work and read his works. Da Vinci, in my opinion, is one of the most outstanding personalities in the world, who achieved perfection in everything. He invented well, created various mechanisms, but most importantly, he drew very well. Interestingly, he even used geometry and algebra in drawing. And when I saw this picture, encountered this miracle, I realized that he was a genius in everything. The picture is so clearly painted, and everything is done so symmetrically, even the color of the skin - it’s as if it’s alive. To be honest, I got the most pleasure from this picture,” a visitor of museum, resident of Almaty shared her impressions.

The exhibition will be held at the National Museum until August 4.