Guangming Daily reporter Marseille
“Da Vinci’s mother was originally a slave from the East”, “The Mona Lisa was inspired by Da Vinci’s mother”, Italian Renaissance research expert Carlo Veche recently At the press conference of his new book “Caterina’s Smile-Leonardo’s Mother”, he claimed to have found the answer to the mystery of Da Vinci’s life experience.
Newly discovered da Vinci documents at the National Archives of Florence, Italy.Photo courtesy of Marseille
When it comes to the Italian Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci, people will definitely not feel unfamiliar. This epoch-making genius who is an artist, writer and scientist has left too many masterpieces and unsolved mysteries to later generations, so that the study of Da Vinci has been enduring for hundreds of years. In addition to the well-known mysterious smile of “Mona Lisa”, a large number of symbols and metaphors in “The Last Supper”, and various ingenious inventions recorded in “Da Vinci’s Notes”, Da Vinci’s own The background of life experience has always been a topic that people talk about. At present, it is almost unanimously recognized in the academic circles that Leonardo da Vinci’s father, Piero, was a notary in Florence, while there are different opinions about the identity of his mother, Caterina.
In the past, scholars generally believed that Caterina was just an ordinary Italian country girl. Martin Kemp, a professor of art history at Oxford University, said that Leonardo da Vinci’s mother, whose full name was Caterina di Meo Lippi, was born in a poor farm family in the mountains of Tuscany and became an orphan at a very young age. . Although Caterina gave birth to Piero’s child, Piero could not marry her under the social environment at that time due to the huge difference in status between the two parties, so he had to betroth her to an ordinary local farmer. As an illegitimate son, Da Vinci grew up under the careful care of his grandfather.
However, in recent years, the “mother’s slave origin theory” has become quite popular in the field of Leonardo da Vinci’s research, because the name Catalina was very common among female slaves at that time. Alessandro Vezzosi, director of the Leonardo da Vinci Museum in Vinci, Italy, has studied the historical documents in the museum’s collection and declared that Caterina may have been a Middle Eastern slave. Because Da Vinci’s father had a Middle Eastern slave girl named Caterina, and this slave girl gave birth to a boy named Leonardo. Italian art historian Angelo Paratico believes that da Vinci’s mother was a slave from the Far East.
With the continuous advancement of science and technology, researchers have found a new way to solve the mystery of Da Vinci’s life experience. A research team led by Luigi Capasso, director of the Institute of Anthropology at the University of Chieti in Italy, used non-destructive spectrometry to analyze hundreds of fingerprints extracted from da Vinci’s sketches and notes. After meticulous analysis and comparison, the fingerprints of Da Vinci’s left index finger were successfully spliced and restored, and dermatology research was carried out on them. It was found that Da Vinci’s fingerprints had more obvious Middle Eastern characteristics, which indicated that his mother might have come from Turkey or North Africa. However, since the tomb and body of Da Vinci in Amboise, France, have long been lost due to the war, it is difficult to provide conclusive evidence through DNA testing technology, and the above speculation has never been confirmed.
The latest research results of Carlo Veche, a professor at the Oriental University of Naples in Italy, opened a new door for exploring the mystery of Da Vinci’s life experience. Veche conducted an in-depth study of da Vinci’s life experience based on a long-lost ancient document he discovered in the National Archives of Florence several years ago. He believes that Da Vinci’s mother Caterina was a slave from the North Caucasus Circassian, who traveled all the way through Russia, Byzantium, Venice and Florence, and finally came to the home of Da Vinci’s father Piero and conceived Download Da Vinci. Based on this, it can be inferred that Da Vinci should also have half oriental blood.
According to the document, Caterina initially nursed Piero’s daughter, Maria, for a period of time. Six months after Leonardo da Vinci was born, Piero signed a document on November 2, 1452, exempting Caterina. slavery, and set him free. Viche believes that although there is still a lack of conclusive evidence, many details in the document show that this oriental female slave named Catalina is the biological mother of Da Vinci. Veche also found that the background scenery depicted in Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece “The Annunciation” has typical oriental characteristics, and it is likely to be the Caucasus Mountains and the city of Tana. Coincidentally, the painting expresses the theme of “The Conception of the Virgin Mary”, perhaps Leonardo da Vinci wanted to pay tribute to his mother in this obscure way.
The ending of Katerina’s life can be described as both tragic and happy. In 1482, in pursuit of career and wealth, 30-year-old Leonardo da Vinci came to Milan to work at the court. After years of correspondence with Leonardo, Caterina finally traveled north to Milan to reunite with her son after her husband’s death in 1493. It’s a pity that the good times didn’t last long, and Katerina died of illness the following year. A list of expenses left over from that year shows that Leonardo Da Vinci funded a grand funeral for him. Veche believes that despite her humble origins, Caterina has a lofty position in Da Vinci’s heart. Being able to close her eyes in the arms of her son is the best consolation for a mother who has gone through hardships. He also boldly speculates that Da Vinci was inspired by his mother’s serene face when he created the “Mona Lisa” and many other female images. “This is a great legacy left to him by Catalina.”
Carlo Veche is an internationally renowned researcher on Leonardo da Vinci. He has published many academic works on Leonardo da Vinci, including The Book of Painting, and has presided over cultural cooperation projects between Italy, China and India. The documentary novel “Caterina’s Smile——Leonardo’s Mother” is created on the basis of his latest research results. The author fills in the missing links of history through reasonable imagination, and tries to reveal the facts about Da. The mysteries of Finch’s mother’s true identity and life experience.
(Story by Guangming Daily, Rome, March 17, Guangming Daily correspondent in Rome, Marseille)
“Guangming Daily” (version 08, March 18, 2023)
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责编：孙宗鹤 ]