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Leonardo da Vinci was one of the greatest geniuses in history, with skills and inventions far ahead of his time. On many occasions his work has been shrouded in mystery, hiding secrets not visible at first sight. Now, a new study has found another, linked to bacteria and fungi.
In search of hidden secrets in Da Vinci’s work, a team of researchers from Austria and Italy set out to investigate what lay beyond the naked eye in seven of Leonardo’s best-known drawings. They weren’t looking for hidden sketches or anything like that – they were looking for the microbiome.
A microbiome is essentially a collection of microorganisms that share the same habitat. They are not perceptible to the naked eye and advanced technologies are needed to try to understand how and why they coexist. In search of hidden elements in Leonardo’s work, the researchers stumbled upon very unusual types of microbiomes.
Five of these drawings are currently kept in the Royal Library of Turin: Self-portrait, Nudes for the battle of Anghiari, Studies of the front legs of a horse, Studies of insects and tudi of virile legs. The last two are kept at the Corso Library in Rome: Man of the Bitta and Study of Drapery for a Kneeling Figure.
By analyzing the seven drawings, the researchers found that each microbiome was unique enough to be able to identify each of the works only by their distinctive microorganisms – you might not say a book from the cover, but you can tell a work of art from the its microbes.
This is not to say that the microbiomes were completely different, they were still similar in many ways, but each had a distinctive touch.
The findings can help researchers pinpoint the places where the drawing was done, as well as the places it passed through in its lifetime, such as warehouses, restorers or art dealers. This is very valuable information: the microbiome has a story to tell, and if you read it right, you can even use it to detect fraud.
The researchers used a tool called Nanopore, a genetic sequencing method that quickly breaks down and analyzes genetic material, to make a detailed study of different biological materials. They had already studied microbiomes in the past to determine how the statues recovered from smugglers were preserved.
In the case of Da Vinci’s drawings, they believe that most of the human DNA discovered comes from people who were responsible for restoring and caring for their works since the 15th century. They also confirmed that all of the drawings are Leonardo’s original works and found a high concentration of bacteria compared to fungi.
In previous studies, they had been able to confirm that fungi tend to dominate microbiomes, but in this case it was the complete opposite. They believe they came from both humans and insects, something that probably has to do with how the works were preserved, especially after Leonardo’s death.
“Overall, the insects, the restorers and the geographic location appear to have left an invisible trace on the drawings,” the researchers said in a statement. “[But] it is difficult to say if any of these contaminants come from the time when Leonardo da Vinci was drawing his drawings “.
The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology.
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