DaVnci's Mother an Enslaved Teenager

A statue of Leonardo da Vinci by Italian sculpture Pietro Magni in Milan's Piazza della Scala. (Image credit: Victor Ovies Arenas)

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A new collection of documents found within the State Archives of Florence suggests that da Vinci's mother was an enslaved girl kidnapped from the Caucasus.

Leonardo da Vinci's mother was kidnapped and enslaved as a teenager in the Caucasus and sent to Italy, a new analysis of nearly 600-year-old documents suggests.

The documents, discovered by an Italian historian, suggest that da Vinci's mother, Caterina, was kidnapped and torn from her home by the Black Sea in Circassia before being shipped to Venice.

If they're accurate, it would mean that Leonardo da Vinci, considered to be one of the greatest painters and scientists of the Italian Renaissance, was only half-Italian. Carlo Vecce, the documents' finder and a professor of Italian literature at the University "L’Orientale" of Naples, has used the discovery as the subject of a historical novel. 

The book — called "Il Sorriso di Caterina(opens in new tab)," or "The Smile of Caterina, the Mother of Leonardo" — contains factually accurate details from his research, Vecce said. The findings, however, have yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal.   READ MORE...

Italy: Most Famous Artists

Italy has been the epicentre of European art for centuries, with Italian artists contributing a massive amount of work to our cultural history. If you were to ask someone to name a famous artist or a famous painting, it’s highly likely that one of the names on this list would be the first to spring to mind!

From the time of the Roman Empire we are left with sculptures and relics that have great historical significance, through to the cultural explosion of the Renaissance and to the modern day – Italy’s impact on art has been incredibly substantial!

Read on to find out more about the top 10 famous Italian artists, 

many of whom you already know and love!

1. Leonardo da Vinci



Considered one of the greatest painters of all time, Leonardo da Vinci was also a polymath, an engineer, a scientist, a sculptor, and much more – a true Renaissance man! Despite fewer than 25 of his works surviving, his paintings are some of the most famous in the world – with the Mona Lisa being the most famous portrait ever, and The Last Supper is the most reproduced religious painting.

A little known fact about da Vinci is that – despite being known worldwide as a genius – he never received any formal schooling, as he was completely homeschooled!

2. Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio



The leading Italian painter of the late 16th and early 17th centuries, Caravaggio is best known for the intense, and sometimes uncomfortable, realism of his large religious works. Orphaned at a young age after his entire family contracted the bubonic plague, Caravaggio was taken on as an apprentice in an art studio at the tender age of 12.

His work had a great influence on the development of Baroque painting techniques, especially his dramatic use of lighting.

This has gained Caravaggio the status of a Baroque master, and he is still admired today – not least by Pope Francis!

3. Titian



Known as Tiziano Vecelli in Italian, Titian was an Italian painter during the Renaissance era and is considered the greatest member of the 16th century Venetian school of painting. He was an incredibly versatile painter, adept with portraits, landscapes, and mythological and religious subjects. He was incredibly popular during his lifetime, with his art sought after by Italian princes, the royal house of the Habsburgs, and the papacy.

Around 300 of his works still exist today, housed around the world in art galleries and museums.

4. Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino



Better known simply as Raphael, Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino was another great Italian painter of the High Renaissance. His work was influenced by Leonardo da Vinci, as he incorporated the use of dynamic movement and chiaroscuro (intense contrast between light and dark) in his pieces.

Considered one of the great masters of the Renaissance, Raphael’s work is most admired for its clarity of form and composition, as well as his depiction of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur.

5. Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni



Considered the archetypal Renaissance man, Michelangelo’s artistic versatility has resulted in his work being known worldwide and made him one of the most famous Italian artists.

A sculptor, painter, architect and poet, Michelangelo’s greatest works are also considered some of the greatest artistic works to have ever been created – think the David sculpture, housed in the Galleria dell’Accademia, or his depiction of Genesis on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

What you might not know, however, is that Pope Julius II actually selected Raphael (the two were rivals at the time) to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel originally, but Raphael convinced the Pope to commission Michelangelo instead – hoping to prove that Michelangelo was not as great a painter as he was!

TO READ ABOUT THE OTHER FIVE, CLICK HERE...

Unfinished da Vinci Work

When the Italian polymath and Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci swore allegiance to the French king in 1516 and accepted François I’s invitation to make his home in France, he brought with him three of his most famous works. Saint John the Baptist, the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and his most celebrated painting, Mona Lisa – all now hang in the Louvre in Paris.

Some Leonardo experts, however, suggest he may have arrived in France with another painting – one that remained unfinished – a work that he returned to and improved but never completed, despite keeping it near him for more than 30 years.

The mysterious Saint Jerome in the Wilderness, which Leonardo started some time in the 1480s, rarely leaves its permanent home in the Vatican Museums. Today, however, as the result of an exceptional loan agreement it is on display at the manor house at Clos Lucé – near the former royal château at Amboise on the Loire in western France – where Leonardo lived for just over two years until his death in 1519.

“Five hundred years after Leonardo da Vinci’s death, we will have the painting here for 100 days,” François Saint Bris, whose family owns the Clos Lucé, told the Observer.

“It’s extremely moving for us to have this work loaned to us. This is a singular canvas, a work in progress that comes more alive the more we look at it. In it we see the workings of Da Vinci’s brain, his techniques, his intelligence, his drawing. We hope visitors will come here to contemplate it.”

Fewer than 20 paintings by Leonardo are thought to have survived until now. Saint Jerome in the Wilderness is not the best nor, indeed, the brightest: the gloomy and largely colourless painting depicts the gaunt and penitent fourth-century saint – considered the father of the Christian church – beating his chest with a stone. At the bottom of the canvas the outline of the lion from whose paw Jerome has famously extracted a thorn lies sketched uncharacteristically ferocious, a change from its usual docile representation.  READ MORE...