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Fourteen living descendants of Leonardo da Vinci are identified

  

Category:  News & Politics

Via:  perrie-halpern  •  3 years ago  •  7 comments

By:   Denise Chow

Fourteen living descendants of Leonardo da Vinci are identified
The findings, published in the journal Human Evolution, could enable historians to reconstruct da Vinci’s genome, helping them “scientifically explore the roots of his genius.”

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T



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Fourteen people alive today in Italy can claim that they are descendants of   Leonardo da Vinci , according to a study of the Renaissance genius' family tree.

Researchers traced da Vinci's genealogy over nearly 700 years and 21 generations, from 1331 to the present day, beginning with da Vinci's great-great-great grandfather Michele.

The findings, published July 4 in the   journal Human Evolution , could enable historians to reconstruct da Vinci's genome, helping them "scientifically explore the roots of his genius" and other characteristics, such as his left-handedness and unique sensory perceptions, the researchers wrote in the study.

Alessandro Vezzosi, a historian at the Museo Ideale Leonardo Da Vinci in Italy, and Agnese Sabato, president of the Leonardo Da Vinci Heritage Association, mapped five major branches of the updated family tree. Da Vinci, best known for painting "The Last Supper" and "The Mona Lisa," had no children, but his blood relatives include 22 half siblings. The Renaissance artist, scientist and engineer was born out of wedlock on April 15, 1452.

Vezzosi and Sabato scoured historical documents to identify the living relatives through an unbroken male line from da Vinci's father, Ser Piero, and half brother Domenico. The living descendants range in age from 1 year old to 85 years old, according to the researchers.

The historians are planning to conduct genetic analyses of the living relatives to zero in on the Y chromosome, which is passed down to male descendants, and "in which the indelible profile of Leonardo's personal and family identity is stamped," the researchers wrote in the study. Because this particular male line is unbroken, it's possible that the Y chromosome remains unchanged, they said.

In addition to revealing new insights into da Vinci's personality and health, a DNA study could help verify his remains. Da Vinci died in 1519 and is thought to be buried in Amboise, France, but the precise location is not known.

The new study is part of an international effort to find and sequence the polymath's DNA. The so-called   Leonardo Da Vinci DNA Project   includes researchers from the Leonardo Da Vinci Heritage Association, the Museo Ideale Leonardo Da Vinci and the California-based J. Craig Venter Institute.


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JBB
Professor Principal
1  JBB    3 years ago

Davinci had no children thus he has no descendants. 

More accurately they located some distant relatives...

 
 
 
Perrie Halpern R.A.
Professor Principal
1.1  seeder  Perrie Halpern R.A.  replied to  JBB @1    3 years ago

They can be traced through the Y chromosome, without any direct descendants as long as they have his father's DNA, which they do.

 
 
 
MsAubrey (aka Ahyoka)
Junior Guide
1.1.1  MsAubrey (aka Ahyoka)  replied to  Perrie Halpern R.A. @1.1    3 years ago

Stinking Y chromosomes... they were all "broken" through the women born throughout my family. jrSmiley_91_smiley_image.gif I can't genetically trace myself to anyone that we're rumored to be related to from history. I can merely do family trees with documented history and we all know that until Europeans set foot on North American soil, there was verbal historical accounts. I have at least two branches of my family tree that are at dead ends... two in Canada in the late 1600s - early 1700s and one in northern Vermont in the mid-1600s.

 
 
 
Perrie Halpern R.A.
Professor Principal
1.1.2  seeder  Perrie Halpern R.A.  replied to  MsAubrey (aka Ahyoka) @1.1.1    3 years ago

I think that is cool that you did that. 

We did ancestry and ended up with two lost 1/2 family members that we never knew about. That was quite a head trip.

 
 
 
MsAubrey (aka Ahyoka)
Junior Guide
1.1.3  MsAubrey (aka Ahyoka)  replied to  Perrie Halpern R.A. @1.1.2    3 years ago

I was able to find out that the same woman is my 8th and 10th great grandmother. Annonentok (of the Ouendat / Wyandot / Wyandotte nation) was married three times (outlived them all) and had children with the first and third husbands. A child from each is directly related to me. I also found out that sisters from one family married brothers of another family while living along the St. Lawrence River that I'm directly related to, making me like my own 10th cousin twice removed or some shit like that. My great grandmother and one of her sisters married brothers of the same family, but my great aunt never had children, but it must've been pretty common once upon a time when people were having many children. It just becomes a bit confusing when you're seeing the same last names repeatedly on both mom's and dad's side of the family. It makes you question what you're reviewing... and your sanity.

 
 
 
MsAubrey (aka Ahyoka)
Junior Guide
1.2  MsAubrey (aka Ahyoka)  replied to  JBB @1    3 years ago

He obviously had nephews, which the DNA shows through the Y chromosome. Descendants doesn't necessarily mean direct, but they can certainly be indirect from Leonardo da Vinci through his siblings [or as mentioned his half siblings from his father]. 

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
2  Buzz of the Orient    3 years ago

A real life Da Vinci Code?

 
 

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