After studying Leonardo da Vinci’s family tree, Italian scientists have identified 14 people who are the heirs of the artist, DPA reported.
Their work is “a synthesis of a decade-long study aimed at restoring the complete genealogy of the Da Vinci family,” the study’s authors wrote in an article published in the journal Human Evolution.
Experts Alessandro Vezzosi and Aniese Sabato have documented 21 generations of the artist’s family.
Heirs of the Italian Renaissance artist, architect and engineer were interviewed for their research and found that some of them worked in offices, others were steel workers and artisans who are now retired.
Genealogists have identified several families from different branches of the Da Vinci family tree.
The full history of the family stretches back nearly 690 years. Scientists have studied the male line of the Da Vinci family, starting with the ancestor Michele, born in the 13th century, then traced the relatives of the artist’s father Piero Frosino, born in 1426 to the birth of Leonardo in 1452.
They traced documents to four branches of the family, starting with Leonardo’s brother Domenico.
Da Vinci had at least 22 half-brothers, but no children, scientists say.
