The sculpted buttock of a slave may have provided tantalising confirmation that it was made by Michelangelo.
The wax model, A Slave, created by the Renaissance artist and held by the Victoria & Albert Museum has revealed a thumb or fingerprint that curators believe could belong to its creator — and help scotch pesky question marks over its authenticity.
The print was discovered after the small waxwork was moved out of an upper gallery, where temperatures were rising rapidly during last year’s warm spring, and into the museum’s colder basement storage.
Curators are increasingly concerned about fragile wax models being damaged as Britain’s summers get hotter.
During an examination of the model after its five months in cold storage, conservators discovered a previously
