Red chalk self portrait of Leonardo da Vinci said to have mystical powers and hidden from Hitler during World War II goes on rare public display

• Fragile chalk sketch has only been on show three times in the last century
• The intensity of the artist's gaze is said to bestow strength on the viewer
• It is rumoured the painting was spirited away to keep Hitler away from it

The only existing self-portrait by Italian master Leonardo da Vinci is to make a rare appearance in a new exhibition in Turin in northern Italy, organisers said Tuesday. The fragile and fading chalk sketch, which has only been put on show for the public three times in the last century, will be displayed for two and a half months as part of 'Leonardo and the treasures of the king', which opens on Thursday at the in the Royal Library in Turin. Italian lore has it that the gaze of Leonardo is so intense that those who view it become stronger as a result. Read more

Intense gaze: It is said the supernatural quality of Leonardo da Vinci's self portrait was the reason it was moved to Rome in the Second World war - in an effort to stop Hitler using it to gain even greater power

There are rumours that this supernatural quality was why it was moved to Rome in the Second World war - in an effort to stop Hitler using it to gain even greater power.

The library's director, Giovanni Saccani, told the BBC: 'To prevent the Nazis from taking it, an intelligence operation saw it transported in absolute anonymity Naturally, this did not do its condition any good.'

The exhibition will be made up of some 80 masterpieces conserved in the Royal Library, which was founded in 1839 by Charles Albert - then King of Piedmont and Sardinia - and is now part of a UNESCO world heritage site.

'The library contains 4,500 manuscripts, 1,500 parchments and over 3,000 drawings by the greatest artists,' Maurizio Cibrario, head of Consulta, an association which restores and promotes Turin's cultural heritage, told AFP.

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The exhibition will be made up of some 80 masterpieces conserved in the Royal Library, which was founded in 1839 by Charles Albert - then King of Piedmont and Sardinia

The exhibition, which runs until January 15, will include works by Renaissance artist Raphael, Baroque painter Carrache, Dutch master Rembrandt and Flemish Baroque portraitist Anthony van Dyck, as well as manuscripts and nautical manuscripts.

Visitors must reserve tickets, with admission limited to 25 people every half hour.

As well as an artist, Leonardo was an architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer.

He was born in April 1452 in Tuscany and died in May 1519 in Amboise, France.

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The library contains 4,500 manuscripts, 1,500 parchments and over 3,000 drawings by the greatest artists

Last month it was reported that cash-strapped France could sell the Mona Lisa to help pay off its vast national debt, the nation's media has suggested.

The radical plan to put the world's best known painting on the market could 'make a dent' in the country's crippling £1,600billion deficit, state-run news channel France 24 said.

The Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece hanging in the Louvre Museum in Paris is seen by up to a million visitors a year.

The painting is often called 'priceless' but was valued at £60million in 1962 for insurance purposes.

But with inflation and a further surge in art prices taken into account, the 2014 value of the artwork could now be around £1.5billion - or almost one per cent of national debt.