Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci may have suffered from "claw hand" impairment that affected his ability to paint in later life, according to a new study published in the British Royal Society of Medicine journal.

Reconstructive surgeon David Lazzeri explained that the traumatic nerve damage might have been caused by a fainting episode, thus justifying the numerous paintings that da Vinci had left incomplete during the last five years of his career.

Lazzeri and neurologist Carlo Rossi have studied a chalk drawing, credited to the 16-century artist Giovanni Ambrogio Figino, which depicts da Vinci with his right hand emerging from his clothing, as if he were wearing a sling, with the fingers contracted.

"Rather than depicting the typical clenched hand seen in post-stroke muscular spasticity, the picture suggests an alternative diagnosis such as ulnar palsy, commonly known as claw hand," Lazzeri said in the report.