Modern Mysteries

Lock of hair to help crack Da Vinci mystery

By T.K. Randall
May 1, 2019 ·  0 comments

Leonardo da Vinci was a genius of his time. Image Credit: Raffaello Sanzio Morghen Widely celebrated for his scientific and artistic achievements, Leonardo da Vinci's genius was so vast that even today we are still learning new things about his remarkable skills and accomplishments.

Now a lock of his hair discovered in a private collection in the US is set to help researchers confirm the identity of da Vinci's modern day descendants as well as to determine once and for all whether bones alleged to be those of the man himself are in fact the genuine article.

"We found, across the Atlantic, a lock of hair historically tagged 'Les Cheveux de Leonardo da Vinci' and this extraordinary relic will allow us to proceed in the quest to carry out research on Da Vinci's DNA," the researchers - Alessandro Vezzosi and Agnese Sabato - said in a statement.The lock of hair itself is due to go on display for the first time at the Ideale Leonardo da Vinci museum in Vinci - the town where Leonardo was born - in time for the 500th anniversary of his death.

"This relic is what we needed to make our historical research even more solid from a scientific point of view," said Sabato. "We are planning to carry out DNA analysis on the relic and compare it to Leonardo's living descendants as well as to bones found in Da Vinci burials that we have identified over the past years."

Da Vinci was originally buried at the chapel of Saint-Florentin at the Chateau d'Amboise, France, however this was later destroyed during the French Revolution and the precise whereabouts of his remains have since remained something of an enigma.

Whether DNA testing will help to solve the mystery however remains to be seen.

Source: The Guardian | Comments (0)

Tags: Leonardo da Vinci