Scientists have reached Leonardo da Vinci's relatives. They want to do the impossible

Leonardo da Vinci has living relatives, but that's not the biggest bombshell. A team of scientists is working on something that will completely change our view of the work of the Renaissance genius.

It always amazes me that more than 500 years after Leonardo da Vinci's death, scientists are still discovering new secrets about his paintings or the techniques he used. But now... This is a real bomb.

As we read in "The Telegraph" , a team of Italian scientists, working as part of the Leonardo DNA Project , claim to have managed to identify six living descendants of da Vinci and confirm the genetic continuity of the artist's family for at least 15 generations. Sounds pretty abstract, doesn't it?

And yet the entire process is described in the publication "Genìa Da Vinci. Genealogy and Genetics for Leonardo's DNA" by researchers Alessandro Vezzosi and Agnese Sabato . For over 30 years, they analyzed documents and historical sources, reconstructing Leonardo's family tree dating back to 1331. In total, it includes as many as 21 generations and over 400 people. The researchers identified up to 15 men who were descendants of Leonardo's father and his half-brother Domenico Benedetto , and six of them were subjected to genetic testing.

Cover of the publication Genìa Da Vinci. Genealogy and Genetics for Leonardo's DNA by Alessandro Vezzosi and Agnese Sabato / photo: promotional materials

It turns out that some of them share certain traits with the famous creator. 89-year-old Dalmazio Vinci is fascinated by flying airplanes, Mauro Vinci creates tapestries, and 49-year-old Milko Vinci , just like the author of "Mona Lisa ", is left-handed.

Prof. David Caramelli , Director of the Department of Biology at the University of Florence , and forensic anthropologist Dr. Elena Pilli were responsible for the DNA analyses.

All the men tested showed a match in fragments of the Y chromosome , which is the one that is inherited exclusively through the male line. This is supposed to confirm the genetic continuity of the male line of the da Vinci family , reaching back at least 15 generations.

Leonardo da Vinci, Self-portrait, 1512 / photo by Rawpixel, public domain

But that's not all. Scientists believe they will be able to confirm Leonardo's authentic DNA . They are to do this by comparing the descendants' material with bone samples found in a tomb in the church of Santa Croce in Vinci - the artist's hometown. There may be buried his grandfather Antonio , uncle Francesco and half-brothers Antonio , Pandolfo and Giovanni .

The project, launched in 2016, has an ambitious goal: to reconstruct the full genetic profile of Leonardo da Vinci . This could shed light on the artist's extraordinary perceptiveness , creativity , health , and even the cause of his death .

Jesse H. Ausubel , director of the project, emphasizes that 21st century biology is shifting the boundary between what is unknowable and what we previously considered unknown.

"We may soon learn more not only about Leonardo , but also about other historical figures who seemed to be locked away forever in the past," he says.

Isn't that amazing?