Scientists have discovered the origin of Leonardo da Vinci’s mother? “She was a Circassian slave.”

An analysis of documents dating back nearly 600 years has revealed the likely origin of Leonardo da Vinci’s mother. An Italian historian claims that Caterina Buti del Vacca was a princess from the Caucasus who was kidnapped by the Tartars and then sold to the Venetians.

Leonardo da Vinci is a figure who still does not cease to amaze. The Italian Renaissance artist was not only a painter whose masterpieces hang in the world’s greatest museums. He was also an outstanding sculptor, architect and engineer whose ideas and innovations were ahead of their time. The Italian’s thousands of notes attest to his interest in mechanics, mathematics, biology and even gravity.

Leonardo da Vinci was the author of many masterpieces and innovative inventions

This year, researchers at the California Institute of Technology analyzed the lost records of the Renaissance scholar and discovered that Leonardo da Vinci analyzed the phenomenon of free fall many years before Galileo Galilei. It was already known that the scientist was interested in the study of motion and forces acting on bodies. However, researchers say that based on a mathematical example and a series of sketches, he tried to prove what we understand today as the theory of gravity.

However, scientists are fascinated not only by the Italian’s inventions and discoveries. Equally interesting and at the same time mysterious is his private life and background. For decades, researchers from around the world have been trying to find out who his mother, Caterina Buti del Vacca, was. The latest discovery by Italian researcher Prof. Carlo Vecce, professor of Italian literature at L’Orientale University in Naples, sheds new light on da Vinci’s family history.

Who was Leonardo da Vinci’s mother?

There have already been many theories surrounding the figure of Caterina. Antonimo Gaddiano wrote around 1540 that the Renaissance artist’s mother came from a high social status, but even then there was talk that she might have been an illegitimate child. Some historians suggested that she may also have been the daughter of a woodcutter from Cerreto Guidi. In contrast, 18 years ago Italian anthropologists concluded that the Italian may have had Arab roots. The researchers hypothesized that Caterina was a slave who was brought to Italy most likely from Constantinople.

The theory that Leonardo da Vinci’s mother was enslaved and did not come from Italy has come up with the rest with many debates and studies. Now Prof. Carlo Vecce claims to have found proof that this is true. Caterina Buti del Vacca, however, was said to have come not from Constantinople, but from the Caucasus. This is to be confirmed by documents found in the National Archives in Florence dating back almost 600 years.

Italian scholar confirms Caterina was a slave from the Caucasus

An Italian scholar claims to have found Caterina’s act of liberation entitled “filia Jacobi eius schiava seu serva de partibus Circassie.” It bears the date November 2, 1452. This means that the document was created less than 7 months after Leonardo da Vinci was born. Prof. Vecce stresses that the deed was drawn up at the request of the slave owner, whose name was Ginevra d’Antonio Redditi.

“Leonard’s mother was a Circassian slave. The Circassians are a people living in the northern Caucasus, related to the Abkhazians. As early as the Ottoman Empire, Circassian women were famous for their beauty, as confirmed by many sources of the time. They were distinguished by their green eyes and relatively often red hair. For this reason, they often became victims of slave hunters and were sold to harems.

The woman believed to be the mother of a Renaissance master was kidnapped from her home in the Caucasus mountains and sold in Constantinople and later in Venice before finally reaching Florence. She was 15 years old at the time. It was there that she met a young notary, Piero da Vinco.” — Prof. Vecce said at a press conference.

The scholar claims that Caterina met Piero a year before signing the act of liberation. She was working as a mamma at the time, so she must have been pregnant already, which means Leonardo was not her first-born child.

The intimate relationship between the Renaissance artist’s parents was supposed to have taken place at the Castellani Palace, which today houses the Galileo Museum in Florence. A year after Leonardo’s birth, Caterina and Piero were married. Prof. Vecce admitted that the discovery confirms that the famous inventor, painter and sculptor was only half Italian. The Naples-based scientist admitted that he will use the research in his latest book entitled “The Smile of Caterina, Leonardo’s Mother.”

Source: LiveScience

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