An exhibition of 51 Italian paintings from the collections of the Bellini Museum opened to the public in Shanghai on Sunday.

On show are masterpieces by such well-known Italian artists as Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti and Tiziano Vecellio.

Among the most eye-catching is Michelangelo Buonarroti's Taking Jesus Down from the Cross, a painted wooden carving bas relief.

The Bellini Museum is a private museum based in Florence, Italy.

The one-month show in Shanghai Art Gallery is one of a series of cultural exchanges to be staged between China and Italy in 2006.

(Xinhua News Agency January 4, 2006)