Identity of Leonardo da Vinci’s mother revealed in new book
The identity of Leonardo's mother has until now been shrouded in mystery. But a forthcoming book by Professor Martin Kemp, Emeritus Professor of the History of Art at Trinity College and Oxford University, has identified her as 15 year old orphan Caterina di Meo Lippi, who gave birth to Leonardo on 15 April 1452. Mona Lisa: The People and the Painting, by Professor Martin Kemp FBA and Dr Giuseppe Pallanti, will be published by Oxford University Press on 8 June 2017. There have been many theories regarding Leonardo's mother's identity, including that she was a slave of Eastern descent who was given the name Caterina. New research undertaken in the archives of Vinci show that in 1451, in a farmhouse under a mile from Vinci, there lived the 15 year old Caterina di Meo - shedding light on Leonardo's maternal family tree for the first time. Caterina lived with her infant brother Papo; they had lost their parents, and their grandmother had recently brought them to live in her house in the hamlet of Mattoni. Poor, vulnerable, and with no prospects, she became pregnant by Ser Piero da Vinci during one of the ambitious young lawyer's visits to his home town in July 1451.
