An Italian court has blocked the loan of Leonardo da Vinci's iconic Vitruvian Man sketch to the Louvre Museum in Paris.

The world famous artwork was due to appear later this month in an exhibition which will commemorate the 500th anniversary of the artist’s death.

It is part of a batch of works by Leonardo and Raphael that the Italian government had agreed to send to Paris.

But an Italian heritage group called Italia Nostra, or Our Italy, objected to the loan, saying that Vitruvian Man is too valuable and fragile to travel.

A regional administrative tribunal in the Veneto region, which encompasses Venice, on Tuesday upheld the objection and ordered the loan of all the masterpieces to be suspended.

The deal will be debated in greater depth by the tribunal at a meeting on October 16 – just over a week before the Louvre exhibition is due to start.