Leonardo da Vinci paintings analysed for DNA to solve grave mystery

  

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

© Provided by The Telegraph The mystery of where Leonardo da Vinci is buried could be laid to rest after scientists began a painstaking hunt for his DNA.

Leonardo was originally interred in the chapel of Saint-Florentin at the Chateau d'Amboise in the Loire Valley, in 1519, but the building was destroyed in the French revolution and it is believed his remains were reburied in the castle’s smaller chapel of Saint-Hubert in the 19th century.

However a plaque above his grave warns that it is only the ‘presumed’ location of his body.

Now scientists are hoping that advances in genetic testing could, finally, give an answer.

They believe that Leonardo may have left traces of his DNA in paintings, notebooks and drawings, and are planning to study works for fingerprints, flakes of skin and even hair.

Specialists from the J. Craig Venter Institute  in California, which pioneered the sequencing of the human genome, are developing a technique to extract and sequence genetic material from paintings that are hundreds of years old.

© Provided by The Telegraph The first tests are expected to be carried out on Leonardo’s masterpiece Adoration of the Magi which is currently undergoing restoration in Florence, Italy.

If they find DNA, experts will then be able to compare it to living relatives to make sure it actually belongs to Leonardo, before testing samples from the grave in a similar way to how Richard III was identified after his body was found in a Leicester car park. They are also hunting for the grave of his father in Florence, and mother in Milan, as another way of verifying the match.

Once granted permission to exhume the remains, the team are hoping to reconstruct the face of Leonardo from his skull to see how it compares with self-portraits, as well as studying his bones to learn more about diet and what caused his death, which has never been recorded.

© Provided by The Telegraph Jesse Ausubel, vice-chairman of the Richard Lounsbery Foundation, which is funding the project, said: “It is well known that Leonardo used his fingers along with his brushes while painting, some prints of which have remained, and so it could be possible to find cells of his epidermis mixed with the colours.

“If human DNA is obtained from Leonardo’s work and sequenced, the genetic material can then be compared with genetic information from skeletal or other remains that may be exhumed

“We stand to gain not only greater historical knowledge of Leonardo but possibly a reconstruction of his genetic profile, which could provide insights into other individuals with remarkable qualities.”

Born in Vinci, Italy, 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 and The Last Supper.

Near the end of his life, Leonardo accepted an invitation from the French king, Francis I, to leave Italy and to move to the Chateeau du Clos Luc near Amboise, with some of his students, where he held the position of “first painter, engineer, and architect of the King.” He died in Cloux on 5 May 1519 at the age of 67.

Leonardo was buried in the chapel of Saint Florentin at the Chateau d'Amboise until it was demolished in 1802 when some of the graves were destroyed and the bones scattered. 19th century biographers claimed his body had been lost but doubts emerged in 1863 when an amateur excavation at the site found a stone coffin containing a skeleton and large skull judged ‘large enough to hold and exceptional brain.’ The remains were found near to a slab with the inscription LEO DUS VINC.

The bones attributed to Leonardo, were placed in a basket but then were lost for a decade. When they were rediscovered they were reburied in 1874 in the Chapel of Saint Hubert.

© Provided by The Telegraph

Historian and Renaissance Expert Ross King, author of Leonardo and The Last Supper said:  “The remains in the chapel were excavated by the impresario Arsène Houssaye. Even by the standards of the mid nineteenth century, Houssaye’s protocols were short on science and strong on myth and wish-fulfilment.

“The uncertainty endures, but scientific study of the remains could be expected either tentatively to confirm or to preclude altogether the possibility of their being those of Leonardo da Vinci.”

The ‘Leonardo Project’ team comprises  anthropologists, art historians, genealogists and microbiologists from universities and institutes in France, Italy, Spain, Canada and the USA. It aims to conclude in 2019 to mark the 500th anniversary of Leonardo's death.

SOURCE:THE TELEGRAPH