A study into the family history of the Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo Da Vinci claims to have found 14 living relatives, the youngest aged one. The findings form part of a decades-long project, led by art historians Alessandro Vezzosi and Agnese Sabato, aimed at reconstructing the genealogical profile of Da Vinci – who never married and had no children, but had at least 22 half-brothers – in order to better understand his genius.
The latest study, published in the Human Evolution journal, documents a continuous male line spanning 690 years, starting from Leonardo’s grandfather, Michele, who was born in 1331, through 21 generations and including five family branches, to the 14 living descendants today.
