A painting of the profile of a young girl was recently purchased for $19,000. Previously it was thought to be a 9th century German work but because of a newly discovered mark, it probably isn’t German and may be worth $150 million! That mark is a finger print. Whose finger print? Perhaps the most famous artist of all, Leonardo da Vinci.

In addition to the finger print, there are more clues that tie the painting to da Vinci. They’ve somehow determined that the painting was done by a south paw, which Leonardo was. I admit, I have no idea how they figured that out, though if I painted a picture with my left hand, it would be rather obvious! Stylistic and compositional evidence also points to da Vinci’s left hand. So, it looks as though this little painting will take its place among the small collection of about 15 works known to be done by the famous artist.

Leonardo da Vinci left his mark on more than just the art world. We all know him as an inventor, but he also made contributions to architecture, civil engineering, astronomy, anatomy, zoology, geography and paleontology. That’s a lot of ologies! So, not just handy with a paint brush, da Vinci was one of the best scientists of his day. For instance, he came up with today’s explanation of how clam shells and the like are found high up in the mountains. His contemporaries had two theories: a) they grew there and b) the great Biblical flood put them there. Not exactly crack scientific methodology is it?

As for theory “a,” he reasoned that the shells were living organisms that could not have fed without motion and in the mountains they could not move. As for theory “b,” well, there was no flood! After all, where would all that water drain? I’m sure that pleased the church very much. He believed that the shells were on the sea floor before the sea floor became a mountain. Radical thinking indeed. That meant that he knew the world was a lot older, I mean a lot older, than people of his time believed. Not bad for a guy who also painted some of the world’s most famous paintings.

Today’s pop culture still feels the finger of da Vinci’s influence. Who hasn’t seen a t-shirt or poster with Vitruvian Man, or a parody of the Mona Lisa? His The Last Supper sparked a couple of books and movies too. Where else have you seen his mark? Time and space dictate that I have to end my list here, but you keep looking. I’ll bet you’ll be surprised at where you find his fingerprints. Usually, you won’t even need a magnifying glass.

Peter Culos is an artist/graphic designer as well as creator of history-geek.com

About the Author: Since my first trip to Gettysburg as a young boy, I've been captivated by History. I get it from my mom. Although she passed away when I was just 13, she still had an influence on me. All our family vacations were stitched around some historical site. So, history geeks are in my blood. I'm a graphic designer by profession and a semi-amateur painter. I love to explore history through my paintbrush. Currently, I work as a graphic artist for the US Army. I've also done living history to get a first hand feel for "what it was like". Looking at history through the eyes of the common man (or woman) and understanding the personal, human drama is really the spice that flavors the historical stew!

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