Last night the self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci took a flight for the first time in history, after receiving approval from Italian authorities. Leonardo da Vinci (the so-called Lucanian Portrait) travelled airBaltic route from Rome via Riga to Tallinn, accompanied by a group of scientists, art historians and officials.

Prof. Felice Festa, researcher of Leonardo da Vinci portrait: “Leonardo da Vinci has made his historic first flight on airBaltic.”

Prof.Felice Festa verified the authenticity of the portrait using his festa2face® method only a year ago, to generate proof that the Lucanian portrait is a self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci. This is the only known painted self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci as a young man. Now the portrait makes its first flight on airBaltic via Riga to an exhibition in Estonia, more than 500 years after Leonardo da Vinci sketched the designs of his flying machines.