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The remains of Leonardo da Vinci are to be exhumed by a group of scientists who plan to reconstruct his face to discover whether his famed masterpiece, the Mona Lisa, is a self-portrait in disguise.
A team of art historians and scientists from Italy's National Committee for Cultural Heritage, has requested that his tomb at Amboise Castle in the Loire valley be opened.
Anthropologist Giorgio Gruppioni, hopes the project will throw new light on the Renaissance painter's most celebrated portrait.
'If we manage to find his skull, we could rebuild Leonardo's face and compare it with the Mona Lisa' he said.
Da Vinci was originally buried in a church that was destroyed in the French revolution of 1789 and his remains were then reburied in the castle's smaller chapel of Saint-Hubert in 1874.
They lie beneath an inscription that describes them as 'presumed' to be the master's.
The head of the Italian team, Silvano Vincenti, said the first step would be to ascertain if the remains are Leonardo's. The team will use carbon dating and compare DNA samples from bones and teeth to those of male descendants in Bologna, Italy.
Discussions between French cultural officials and the owners of the chateau have resulted in an agreement in principle and the plans could receive a formal go-ahead this summer.
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