Following clues to correct artist

It’s an artistic mystery whose hottest clue is a fingerprint.

“The Adoration of the Christ Child,” a painting hanging in Rome’s Galleria Borghese, is attributed to Fra Bartolomeo, but a newly discovered fingerprint in the paint, along with stylistic similarities, are making experts think of Leonardo da Vinci, who sometimes left a digital imprint on his works as a sort of signature.

Near the completion of the painting’s yearlong restoration, “a kind of yellowish halo could be seen in the sky in the upper left,” the chief restorer, Elisabetta Zatti, said Tuesday, describing the fingerprint she found.

The key to unlocking the question of attribution may lie in Krakow, Poland, where a Leonardo masterpiece, “Lady With an Ermine,” bears the Renaissance master’s fingerprint. Photos of the “Adoration” will be flown there next month for comparison.