The mystery of where Leonardo da Vinci is buried could be laid to rest after scientists began a painstaking hunt for his DNA. 
 
 Leonardo was originally interred in the chapel of Saint-Florentin at the Chateau d'Amboise in the Loire Valley, in 1519, but the building was destroyed in the French revolution and it is believed his remains were reburied in the castle’s smaller chapel of Saint-Hubert in the 19th century. 
 
 However a plaque above his grave warns that it is only the ‘presumed’ location of his body. 
 
 Now scientists are hoping that advances in genetic testing could, finally, give an answer. 
 
 They believe that Leonardo may have left traces of his DNA in paintings, notebooks and drawings, and are planning to study works for fingerprints, flakes of skin and even hair. 
 
 Specialists from the J. Craig Venter Institute in California, which pioneered the sequencing of the human genome, are developing a technique to extract and sequence genetic material from paintings that are hundreds of years old. 
 
 The first tests are expected to be carried out on Leonardo’s masterpiece Adoration of the Magi which is currently undergoing restoration in Florence, Italy. 
 
 If they find DNA, experts will then be able to compare it to living relatives to make sure it actually belongs to Leonardo, before testing samples from the grave in a similar way to how Richard III was identified after his body was found in a Leicester car park. They are also hunting for the grave of his father in Florence, and mother in Milan, as another way of verifying the match. ||||| It is a 500-year-old mystery that could draw in the Queen, the Pope and the billionaire Bill Gates. 
 
 An international team of scientists are bidding to track down the real remains of Leonardo da Vinci, extract his DNA to shed new light on his character and create a model of what the great Renaissance genius would have looked like. 
 
 Cracking the real da Vinci code is expected to be difficult and some of the world’s leading experts in genetics – including some who worked with the FBI to identify those killed in the 9/11 attacks – will be working on the case. 
 
 The project could see hairs taken from paintings known to be his work, the owners of some of his hand-written journals – such as Queen Elizabeth, the Vatican and Mr Gates – could be asked to submit them for fingerprint tests, and suspected living relatives will be asked to provide samples of their DNA for analysis. 
 
 Jesse Ausubel, vice-chairman of the US-based Richard Lounsbery Foundation, which has helped to create the project, said: “I think everyone in the group believes that Leonardo, who devoted himself to advancing art and science, who delighted in puzzles, and whose diverse talents and insights continue to enrich society five centuries after his passing, would welcome the initiative of this team - indeed would likely wish to lead it were he alive today." 
 
 Da Vinci, famed for the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, is regarded as possibly the greatest-ever painter. He also designed plausible flying machines centuries before the age of flight – including a prototype helicopter – and drew incredibly intricate studies of human and animal anatomy. 
 
 But he has always been something of an enigma to historians, partly because of his own obsession with secrecy. 
 
 Announcing The Leonardo Project in the journal Human Evolution, the researchers said they hoped to mirror the success of projects to identify the remains of people like King Richard III of England and Miguel de Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote. 
 
 Leonardo da Vinci: A brush with genius 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 1/5 Renaissance man: Leonardo da Vinci's 'Saint Jerome' (c 1480) © Photo Vatican Museums 
 
 2/5 'Portrait of Cecilia Gallerani (Lady with the Ermine)' (c 1489-900) THE PRINCES CZARTORYSKI MUSEUM, CRACOW 
 
 3/5 'Study for Head of St James with Architecture' (c 1491-3) © The Royal Collection 2011, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 
 
 4/5 'Virgin of the Rocks' (c 1483-1485) © RMN / Franck Raux 
 
 5/5 'The Last Supper' (c 1520) © Royal Academy of Arts, London 
 
 It is believed da Vinci, who died in 1519 at the age of 67, is buried in Amboise, France. 
 
 The French government has refused to initial request to examine his purported remains, but the researchers said they hoped the launch of such a large project – involving scientists from Italy, Spain, France, the United States and other countries – would help change their mind. 
 
 Confirming his identity would then allow scientists to test his remains to shed new light on things like what he ate – he was famously vegetarian – what diseases he may have suffered from, where he travelled to during his life and some of his personal habits. 
 
 It could also confirm stories that his mother, Caterina, who may have been a servant or possibly a slave, was originally from an area north of the Black Sea. 
 
 The team could also create a 3D model of his face, as was done with King Richard. 
 
 Leonardo da Vinci and the body beautiful 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 1/4 The body beautiful: ‘The Major Organs and Vessels’ (c1485-90) 
 
 2/4 The body beautiful: 'A Skull Sectioned’ (1489 
 
 3/4 The body beautiful: ‘The Bones, Muscles and Tendons of the Hand' (c1510) 
 
 4/4 The body beautiful: Studies of the Foetus in the Womb (c1510-13) 
 
 Brunetto Chiarelli, editor of Human Evolution, wrote in the journal that their quest to find da Vinci’s DNA was “fraught with difficulty”. 
 
 But he added: “Matching Leonardo's DNA to that of his family presents puzzles that are minutely specific to their history and circumstances, but the tools the investigators use are generic and broadly applicable. 
 
 “We stand to gain not only greater historical knowledge of Leonardo but possibly a reconstruction of his genetic profile, which could provide insights into other individuals with remarkable qualities. 
 
 “The last Plantagenet King of England and the author who gave us Don Quixote are two whose places in history are somewhat better documented now through recent anthropological study. Is Leonardo the next?” 
 
 The researcher said they hoped to announce their findings in 2019 on the 500th anniversary of da Vinci’s death.
– It's a project scientists say Leonardo da Vinci would have loved. Researchers plan to sequence the DNA of the Renaissance genius to discover more about his amazing abilities, and possibly even what he really looked like, the Independent reports. Da Vinci, however, wasn't trapped in amber Jurassic Park-style, so the team is going to have to do a lot of work to track down usable samples of DNA. His remains are believed to be in the Chapel of Saint-Hubert at the Chateau d'Amboise, France, but the exact location is unknown and the researchers will need to test da Vinci relatives, as well as get permission to search for his bones, the Telegraph reports. Another source of what is being called "the real da Vinci" code could be skin cells left in his artwork. The scientists are to look for DNA in the "Adoration of the Magi" painting, which is currently being restored. They may also speak to owners of his journals, including Bill Gates and Queen Elizabeth II. They hope the project will lead to advances in extracting DNA from old fingerprints and similar sources—and they plan to have findings to unveil by 2019, which will be the 500th anniversary of the master's death. "Everyone in the group believes that Leonardo, who devoted himself to advancing art and science, who delighted in puzzles, and whose diverse talents and insights continue to enrich society five centuries after his passing, would welcome the initiative of this team—indeed would likely wish to lead it were he alive today," says Leonardo Project spokesman Jesse Ausubel of Rockefeller University. (Other researchers have managed to track down dozens of people they believe are living descendants of da Vinci.)