Fingerprint found on 500-year-old statue

Statue depicts a young naked figure with its arm thrown across its face.

(Web Desk) - A small wax statue may have brought us closer than ever to Michelangelo, after museum experts found what they believe to be the Renaissance master’s fingerprint -- or thumbprint -- pressed into the material.

Specialists at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) discovered the mark on a dark red figurine, which was an initial sketch model for a larger unfinished marble sculpture.

The 500-year-old waxwork, titled "A Slave," was part of Michelangelo’s preparations for Pope Julius II’s elaborate tomb in Rome. It depicts a young naked figure with its arm thrown across its face.

According to a museum listing, the proposed statue was among over 40 life-size figures once being planned for the pope’s final resting place. Michelangelo started work on a larger marble version, dubbed "Young Slave," though he did not complete the work. Plans for the pope’s tomb were later "greatly reduced," the V&A wrote.