The Leonardo da Vinci DNA Project found matching genetic sequences on a letter and a chalk drawing. Photo / Getty Images
A discovery in the hunt for Leonardo da Vinci’s DNA could uncover lost artworks and shed light on his genius.
The Leonardo da Vinci DNA Project has found matching genetic sequences on letters from a distant cousin of the Renaissance master and a chalk drawing, entitled Holy Child.
The team is now hoping to track down more genetic samples from living and dead relatives of the artist in the hope of confirming the sequence.
Finding Leonardo’s DNA would not only help to validate his works but could also shed light on his achievements.
It has been suggested that he may have had extraordinary visual acuity that allowed him to see the world at a faster rate – perhaps 100 frames a second instead of the usual 30 to 60 – meaning he could pick up hidden patterns.
Jesse Ausubel, of the Rockefeller University in New York, said it might soon be possible to identify Leonardo’s DNA definitively by using samples of his handwriting.
“Yes, with more samples, especially from Leonardo’s notebooks,” he told the Telegraph. “The British Library holds the Codex Arundel – 283 pages – the Victoria and Albert Museum holds the Codex Forster, five small notebooks.
“The Royal Collection holds Leonardo drawings at Windsor Castle. Now that our project has demonstrated we can sample without harm, we hope curators of such collections will join in the project to build a more complete genetic portrait of Leonardo.”
Leonardo used his fingers with his brushes while painting, so it could even be possible to find skin cells mixed with the colours, experts believe.
Ausubel said the project could help resolve disputed artworks, but they were more focused on learning whether genetics might have been responsible for Leonardo’s genius.
Born in Vinci, near Florence, in 1452, Leonardo foresaw and described innovations hundreds of years before their invention, such as the helicopter and armoured tank. His artistic legacy includes the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, Salvator Mundi (Saviour of the World) and Vitruvian Man.
“We have focused on learning about his ancestry, visual acuity, and other biological aspects,” Ausubel added.
“Genomic information will surely play a growing role in attribution and authentication of artworks, as it already does in the courts for evidence about innocence or guilt of accused persons.
“Our project has avoided entering this domain because it is in large part about money, rather than the beauty of knowledge and fun of discovery.”
The task to find a DNA match would be simplified if the whereabouts of Leonardo’s body were known, but nobody is quite sure where he is buried.
He died in France in 1519 at the age of 67, and his body was originally interred, at his request, in the Chapel of Saint-Florentin at the royal residence of Chateau d’Amboise, in the Loire Valley, but the building was destroyed in the French Revolution.
Although it was thought that his remains had been lost, a skeleton was found during excavations in 1863 near a slab with the inscription “LEO DUS VINC”. Yet there are still doubts as to whether it really is the body of Leonardo.
Officials have granted permission for the skeleton to be sampled, but have said it can happen only if DNA has been found elsewhere to compare.
The team is hoping that archives holding Leonardo’s work, or that of his family members, will allow them in so they can swab more artefacts to firm up the new match.
A strand of hair was uncovered during the 1863 excavation, which researchers are hoping to test. They are also planning to take samples from living relatives of Leonardo’s father, who had 23 children with several women. Leonardo did not father any children.
Researchers also want to gain access to the family tomb in Florence, which holds the remains of Leonardo’s grandfather, uncle and two half-siblings. Sample books used by Leonardo’s father when he worked as a notary are also held at the site.
The current match was made by swabbing letters from Frosino di ser Giovanni da Vinci, a cousin of Leonardo’s grandfather, which were matched with the Holy Child sketch through DNA pressed into the sealing wax.
If the Amboise skeleton should turn out to be Leonardo’s, scientists want to reconstruct his face to see how it compares to self-portraits.
The Leonardo da Vinci DNA Project is made up of anthropologists, art historians, genealogists and microbiologists from universities and institutes in France, Italy, Spain, Canada and the United States.
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