We Have the Print, Now Book 'em, Danno

As nary a week can go by without some new finding about the Italian Renaissance painter Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), we're now informed that his left index fingerprint has been reconstructed by compiling some 200 photographs of the master's partial prints. Not quite on par with his DNA being extracted from amber so scientists can clone him, but, still -- news deserving of at least a wee side-view mug shot (as seen here).

What new revelations does this fingerprint offer us? Well, not too much beyond humanizing this titanic historical figure somewhat. We already knew he was left-handed. There's a 60% possibility, given the pattern of the whorls in the fingerprint, that Leonardo's mother, Caterina, was from the Eastern Mediterranean (perhaps Turkey) as has been previously speculated. We'll also have forensic evidence from here on out when wondering if Leonardo touched one of his apprentice's canvases to "help." And the other big finding was that Leonardo, apparently, didn't break for lunch but stayed hunched over his work while eating. Analysis found traces of (1) food, (2) saliva and (3) blood in many of the original, partial prints. So take heart, workers of the world! It's been tough to be a polymath for at least 500 years.

On a more serious note, the Essential Leonardo Bibliography has now been published and awaits your perusal, oh researchers and writers of papers. Thanks for the recommendations are owed to Stan Parchin, who has almost certainly amassed one of the world's biggest Leonardo book collections.

Image credit:

Francesco Melzi (Italian, 1491/93-ca. 1570)
Portrait of Leonardo (after 1510)
Red chalk on paper
275 x 190 cm (108 1/4 x 74 3/4 in.)
© Royal Library, Windsor