Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece Mona Lisa
A study has found that genius Italian Renaissance artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was the son of a slave.
Italy’s ANSA news agency reported on the 14th (local time) that Carlo Veche, a professor at the University of Naples who has studied Da Vinci for more than 30 years, revealed in his latest book, “Caterina’s Smile,” that Da Vinci’s mother, Caterina, a slave
Da Vinci was born out of wedlock in Vinci, near Florence, in 1452 to his father Piero, who was a notary, and Caterina. In the meantime, several theories have been raised, such as that mother Katerina was Jewish or that she was a local farmer, but her exact origins remain a mystery.
The definitive evidence that Caterina was a slave was Caterina’s ‘document of freedom from slavery’ which Professor Beche found in the archives of Florence. AFP reported that the document written by Piero himself had the phrase “to restore her freedom and dignity (free her from slavery)”.
According to Professor Beche, Caterina was sold to Florence from the Circassian North Caucasus, on the north-east coast of the Black Sea. Afterwards, while working as a housekeeper and nanny, she met Piero, gave birth to da Vinci, and was freed from slavery on November 2, 1452, about six months later. “The man who loved a captive Caterina, the man who gave her a baby named ‘Leonardo’, and the man who freed her from slavery were all the same person,” argued Beche. He said, “The difficult life of an immigrant mother left a great legacy of freedom spirit to her smart son.”
The New York Times (NYT) from the United States evaluated Professor Beche’s research as “a theory that can fuel academic debates until now.”
Reporter Hong Jeong-soo hong@donga.com
