Many people consider non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to be nothing more than digital art. NFTs can be digital art, but they do not have to be. Some are true limited editions, or they may even by unique 1-of-1 NFTs. Others are given multiple editions. Regardless of how you feel about the explosive growth of NFTs, the field has continued to grow and mature.

Now there may be a new future for those NFTs which are digital art — holographic NFT, or HNFTs. This could become a new normal for exclusive NFTs that exhibit art or other unique images/events that are minted as NFTs.

The world’s first Leonardo Da Vinci NFT of La Bella Principessa (see image below from MakersPlace) is dropping on April 21, 2022 in a 500 million pixel hologram that has been labeled as he first of its kind. The item is up for auction at MakersPlace. The three components listed with the NFT are:

• A high-resolution 425MB static image NFT;
• A multi-gigabyte photogrammetry image of the original canvas;
• and a Unique 1:1 Hologram (HNFT) with the crystal display case.

The full video is available on YouTube.

According to the release:

With the unlockable photogrammetry image included in the purchase of this work, you can explore the canvas in never before possible detail. The hologram is generated by rotation at very high speed (900 rotations per minute) of four blades containing 256 micro LEDs and microprocessors, which use an algorithm to compose the work in the air. The apparatus is contained within a crystal case of 73cm x 73cm x 12cm.

And with La Bella Principessa, you don’t even have the opportunity to view the work in person as it is one of the few remaining Leonardo’s in private hands. The original work is under lock and key held in the Geneva freeport.

The original will be part of an exhibition at a world renowned European institution this Fall, but it is not on permanent loan to a museum and has, to this point, only been on display three times since its revised attribution in 1998. The unlockable image brings new capabilities for viewing, and the hologram creates another life for the work in the physical world.