Founded by Stefano Vaccara

Subscribe for only $6/Year
  • Login
  • Register

Editor in Chief: Giampaolo Pioli

VNY La Voce di New York

The First Italian English Digital Daily in the US

English Editor: Grace Russo Bullaro

  • English Edition
  • Letters
  • New York
  • U.N.
  • News
  • People
  • Entertainment
  • Arts
  • Lifestyles
  • Food & Wine
  • Travel
  • Sports
  • Italian Edition
No Result
View All Result
VNY
  • English Edition
  • Letters
  • New York
  • U.N.
  • News
  • People
  • Entertainment
  • Arts
  • Lifestyles
  • Food & Wine
  • Travel
  • Sports
  • Italian Edition
No Result
View All Result
VNY La Voce di New York
No Result
View All Result
in
Arts
March 15, 2023
in
Arts
March 15, 2023
0

Leonardo da Vinci’s Mother was a Slave: So Says an Expert who Has Studied the Case

Carlo Vecce makes the disputed claim in a fictionalized form, the novel" Il sorriso di Caterina"

Alex ChristiansenbyAlex Christiansen
Leonardo da Vinci’s Mother was a Slave: So Says an Expert who Has Studied the Case

The book that claims Leonardo's mother was a slave. Photo: ANSA

Time: 2 mins read

An Italian scholar and novelist has provided a fresh theory for an old debate over the identity of Leonardo da Vinci’s mother, drawing on a recently unearthed document as evidence that she arrived on the Italian peninsula as a slave from the Caucasus region of Central Asia.

Carlo Vecce, an Italian literature professor at the University of Naples L’Orientale, has revealed his theory in a new novel, “Il Sorriso di Caterina,” or “Caterina’s Smile.” He based his claim on a document discovered in the State Archives in Florence that granted freedom to a girl named Caterina.

Leonardo’s father, Piero, notarized the record six months after the birth of the Renaissance genius, who went on to paint masterpieces including the “Mona Lisa.”

Vecce said he originally was intent on proving that Leonardo’s mother was not an enslaved person from the East, Circassia. “But when the evidence goes in the other direction, one must pay attention,” he said.

In the book, Vecce writes that Caterina was brought to Italy from Circassia, a historical region in the North Caucasus, because of her ability to work with fabrics. She was brought to Venice by boat, he says, and then taken to Florence, where she worked in a home near the cathedral and was hired out as a nanny until her liberation on November 2, 1452.

He said he chose to put his research in a novel and not in a scholarly text because he felt an urgency to share his theory with a wider public. “I could joke that no one reads a book with footnotes and a bibliography,” the author added, making light of a decision that is seen as trivializing such an important claim.

Martin Kemp, an Oxford University art history professor emeritus who co-wrote a 2017 book that identified Leonardo’s mother as Caterina di Meo Lippi, a 15-year-old orphan, is disputing this new theory. He said he continued to favor the theory that the girl who gave birth to the Renaissance genius was a “rural mother.”

“There have been a number of claims that Leonardo’s mother was a slave,” Kemp said in a statement provided to The Associated Press. “This fits the need to find something exceptional and exotic in Leonardo’s background, and a link to slavery fits with current obsessions.” He suggested the document may not be conclusive.

It was Leonardo’s grandfather who said his mother’s name was Caterina, according to Kemp, but that too has little meaning since Caterina was a common name given to slaves when they were forced to convert to Christianity, and the husband of the woman who freed the girl in Vecce’s document traded two slaves with that name in one year, Kemp said.

Kemp both praised Vecce’s work as a scholar and expressed surprise that the Italian professor published his findings as a fictionalized account.

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Alex Christiansen

Alex Christiansen

DELLO STESSO AUTORE

Shark Tank’s Corcoran: “Commercial Real Estate Will be a Bloodbath”

Shark Tank’s Corcoran: “Commercial Real Estate Will be a Bloodbath”

byAlex Christiansen
Prighozin attacca, ‘se cominci guerra devi avere carattere’

Prominent War Blogger Predicts: Putin Will be Ousted by Wagner Chief

byAlex Christiansen

A PROPOSITO DI...

Tags: Carlo VecceCaterinaLeonardo da VinciSlavery
Previous Post

At Pace Gallery, NYC: Performance and Installation by Miles Greenberg

Next Post

Caos banche: Wall Street chiude in rosso

Discussion about this post

DELLO STESSO AUTORE

Carcere in Florida vicino a Disneyland, provocazione di DeSantis

NAACP Warns: Don’t Go to Florida if You’re Not White and Straight

byAlex Christiansen
A Fourth Person Dies of Drug Resistant Bacteria Linked to Contaminated Eye Drops

A Fourth Person Dies of Drug Resistant Bacteria Linked to Contaminated Eye Drops

byAlex Christiansen

Latest News

Stretto di Taiwan: sfiorata la collisione tra navi USA e Cina

Stretto di Taiwan: sfiorata la collisione tra navi USA e Cina

byLa Voce di New York
Lo Utah vieta la Bibbia nelle scuole: “È volgare e violenta”

Lo Utah vieta la Bibbia nelle scuole: “È volgare e violenta”

byLa Voce di New York

New York

Award Ceremony of First Edition of NY Prize for Poetry “Italians for the Future”

Award Ceremony of First Edition of NY Prize for Poetry “Italians for the Future”

byLa Voce di New York
Revitalized Debate Over Wine in Grocery Stores Ignites in New York

Revitalized Debate Over Wine in Grocery Stores Ignites in New York

byLa Voce di New York

Italiany

Arriva il liceo del Made in Italy: approvato il disegno di legge

Arriva il liceo del Made in Italy: approvato il disegno di legge

byEmanuele La Prova
Urso a Washington: “L’Italia è affidabile e deve crescere insieme agli Stati Uniti”

Urso a Washington: “L’Italia è affidabile e deve crescere insieme agli Stati Uniti”

byLa Voce di New York
Next Post
Silicon Valley Bank chiude e fallisce

Caos banche: Wall Street chiude in rosso

La Voce di New York

Editor in Chief:  Giampaolo Pioli   |   English Editor: Grace Russo Bullaro   |   Founded by Stefano Vaccara

Editor in Chief:  Giampaolo Pioli
—
English Editor: Grace Russo Bullaro
—
Founded by Stefano Vaccara

  • New York
    • Eventi
  • Onu
  • News
    • Primo Piano
    • Politica
    • Voto Estero
    • Economia
    • First Amendment
  • People
    • Nuovo Mondo
  • Arts
    • Arte e Design
    • Spettacolo
    • Musica
    • Libri
    • Lingua Italiana
  • Lifestyles
    • Fashion
    • Scienza e Salute
    • Sport
    • Religioni
  • Food & Wine
  • Travel
    • Italia
  • Mediterraneo
  • English
  • Search/Archive
  • About us
    • Editorial Staff
    • President
    • Administration
    • Advertising

VNY Media La Voce di New York © 2016 / 2023 — La testata fruisce dei contributi diretti editoria d.lgs. 70/2017
Main Office: 230 Park Avenue, 21floor, New York, NY 10169 | Editorial Office/Redazione: UN Secretariat Building, International Press Corps S-301, New York, NY 10017

VNY Media La Voce di New York © 2016 / 2023
La testata fruisce dei contributi diretti editoria d.lgs. 70/2017

Main Office: 230 Park Avenue, 21floor, New York, NY 10169 | Editorial Office/Redazione: UN Secretariat Building, International Press Corps S-301, New York, NY 10017

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • New York
  • Onu
  • News
    • Elezioni 2022
    • Primo Piano
    • Politica
    • Economia
    • First Amendment
  • Arts
    • Speciale Venezia
    • Arte e Design
    • Spettacolo
    • Musica
    • Libri
  • Lifestyles
    • Fashion
    • Scienza e Salute
    • Sport
    • Religioni
  • Food & Wine
    • Cucina Italiana
  • Travel
    • Italia
  • English
    • Arts
    • Business
    • Entertainment
    • Food & Wine
    • Letters
    • Lifestyles
    • Mediterranean
    • New York
    • News
  • Subscribe for only $6/Year

© 2016/2022 VNY Media La Voce di New York

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In
By clicking on "Create my account" or by registering, you accept the Term of Service and the Privacy Policy.

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?