Italian actress and model Monica Bellucci has been featured in a new photography exhibition in Milan celebrating the work of renowned Italian photographer Gian Paolo Barbieri.

The exhibition, which has just opened at the 29 Arts in Progress gallery, showcases a variety of portraits and hand-painted photographs, including a striking image of Bellucci posing nud* in water for Dolce & Gabbana’s 2000 campaign.

In addition to her appearance in the exhibition, Bellucci also stars in a docufilm about Barbieri’s life called “The Man and The Beauty,” which features some of the photographer’s other iconic subjects such as Eva Herzigova and Donatella Versace.

The film delves into Barbieri’s 60-year career and showcases some of his most memorable work, including 1997 shots of Herzigova eating spaghetti and dancing through the streets of Rome.

Barbieri is known for his photographs of some of the world’s most iconic supermodels, but he has also created images for many famous fashion brands, including Versace, Ferrè, Vivienne Westwood, Dolce & Gabbana, Valentino, and Armani.

Speaking about his career, Barbieri says, “I have always loved art, in all its incarnations. Since I was a child, the inspiration of theatre and cinema played an important role.

“Reading widely, studying classical art, looking to the great masters of the past or simply looking around me at what animated my surroundings, I cultivated my artistic eye.

“I imagined or drew in my head that which I would have liked to be the result of this act, constructing my sets meticulously, always citing, more or less explicitly, art, cinema, or architecture.”

Bellucci, now 58 years old, recently shared her thoughts about aging in an interview with the Sunday Times Style magazine.

She said that she wants to “get old in a peaceful way” and isn’t “obsessed” with maintaining her figure in her 50s.

Instead, she prefers to enjoy wine, pasta, and the occasional Pilates class rather than following strict workout regimens and restrictive diets. “I am not obsessed,” she said.

“I’ve always been a curvy woman, never so skinny, that’s my nature. And I want to get old in a peaceful way.

“When you are 50 or 60, you don’t have the same needs as when you are 20.

“You change, like when your baby comes into the room, you see that the first thing is her. We come in second. This gives us another perspective.”