Renaissance Mom: Leonardo Da Vinci's Mother Identified

[Judi Lynn]

By Megan Gannon, Live Science Contributor | June 12, 2017 02:58pm ET


The identity of Leonardo da Vinci's mother has eluded historians for years, but now one scholar said he's found the woman behind the Renaissance man.

After digging through overlooked records in Italy, Martin Kemp, a leading Leonardo expert, claimed that the artist was born to Caterina di Meo Lippi, a 15-year-old orphan, on April 15, 1452.

From existing documents, historians already knew that Leonardo was mostly raised by his father, a lawyer named Ser Piero da Vinci. Scholars also knew that Ser Piero was not married to Leonardo's mother, and there was some indication that her name was Caterina. [In Photos: Leonardo Da Vinci's 'Mona Lisa']

The gaps in knowledge among these details have led to a somewhat obsessive speculation about Caterina's identity. Sigmund Freud even weighed in with a psychoanalytical interpretation of Leonard's childhood. Freud claimed that the enigmatic smile in the 'Mona Lisa' must have reminded Leonardo of (you guessed it) his mother, which is why the painting captures both "the promise of unlimited tenderness and sinister threat."

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[Beartracks]

1. Very interesting. n/t

[Tanuki]

2. Interesting....I wonder if she was related to Fra Filippo Lippi?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filippo_Lippi