Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: Leonardo da Vinci's mother - new research

  1. #1
    I was blind but now I see
    Apricity Funding Member
    "Friend of Apricity"

    Sebastianus Rex's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Last Online
    02-27-2024 @ 12:51 PM
    Ethnicity
    Portuguese
    Country
    Portugal
    Gender
    Posts
    10,324
    Thumbs Up
    Received: 8,656
    Given: 5,621

    1 Not allowed!

    Default Leonardo da Vinci's mother - new research

    https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/h...a-vinci-jewish


    Italian historian Carlo Vecce set out to debunk rumors of da Vinci’s foreign origins, but a newly discovered document changed his mind

    In all likelihood, Leonardo da Vinci was only half Italian. His mother, Caterina, was a Circassian Jew born somewhere in the Caucasus, abducted as a teenager and sold as a sex slave several times in Russia, Constantinople, and Venice before finally being freed in Florence at age 15. This, at least, is the conclusion reached in the new book Il sorriso di Caterina, la madre di Leonardo, by the historian Carlo Vecce, one of the most distinguished specialists on Leonardo da Vinci.

    The official version of da Vinci’s birth is that it was the fruit of a brief fling between the Florentine solicitor Piero da Vinci and a young peasant from Tuscany called Caterina, of whom almost nothing was known. Yet there had long been a seemingly unfounded theory that Leonardo had foreign origins and that Caterina was an Arab slave. Six years ago, professor Vecce decided to kill the rumor for good. “I simply found it impossible to believe that the mother of the greatest Italian genius would be a non-Italian slave,” he told me. “Now, not only do I believe it, but the most probable hypothesis, given what I found, is that Caterina was Jewish.”

    Vecce was the right man for the job—he published an anthology of da Vinci’s writings and a biography, Leonardo, translated into several languages, and he collaborated on the exhibition of da Vinci’s drawings and manuscripts at the Louvre and Metropolitan Museum in 2003. He embarked on the research for his latest book during the reconstruction of da Vinci’s library, which is where he found the document that changed everything. Dated Nov. 2, 1452, seven months after Leonardo’s birth, and signed by Piero da Vinci in his professional capacity, it is an emancipation act regarding “the daughter of a certain Jacob, originating from the Caucasian mountains,” and named Caterina. According to the document, Catarina’s owner appears to have been the wife of rich merchant Donato di Filippo, who lived near the San Michele Visdomini church in Florence, and whose usual solicitor for business was Piero da Vinci. The date on the document is underlined several times, as if da Vinci’s hand was shaking as he proceeds to the liberation of the woman who just gave him a child.

    Slavery was still current practice in 15th-century Italy, though on a much smaller scale than in the Ottoman Empire. The city of Florence alone had at least 1,000 slaves—among them Russians, Abkhazes, Turks, Serbs, and, like Caterina, Circassians from the Caucasus. Who was this woman who gave birth to one of the greatest geniuses of the Renaissance?

    Investigating her story, professor Vecce traced another part of the history of the Jews. “Traveling from Russia,” he told me, Caterina “certainly passed through the Taman peninsula, near Crimea, which opens on the Azov sea.” The peninsula owes its name to David of Taman, the king of the Jewish Khazar kingdom that briefly existed there during the seventh to 10th centuries. “It seems that some traces of the Khazar kingdom still existed in the 15th century, when the peninsula was controlled by the Genovese Jewish Ghisolfi family. The region was ruled by Jewish consuls until the Ottoman Empire put an end to it at the end of the 15th century.” Most of the slave ships traveled from the Venetian colony implanted at Azov (then Tana) to Constantinople. From there, we can follow Caterina to Venice, and then to Florence where she was brought by her new master, Donato di Filippo, who put her to work both in his clothing workshop and at the service of his wife. That she was a sex slave is attested by the fact that she already had several children by Filippo when, at 15, she met da Vinci, Filippo’s solicitor, who at first “borrowed” her as a nanny for his daughter Marie and then fell so much in love with her that he freed her from slavery after Leonardo’s birth. “Da Vinci himself was no stranger to the Jews,” says professor Vecce. “His main customers were among the Jewish community of Florence.”

    Piero da Vinci ended up leaving Florence for Milan. Caterina died there in 1493 and is probably buried in the San Francesco Grande church, where Leonardo had painted the “Verginne delle rocce” a few years before.

    As for Donato di Filippo, after his death he gave his money to the church of San Bartolomeo a Monte Oliveto, for which Leonardo would paint the “Annunciation.” Coincidentally enough, the background of this painting shows a mountain very similar to Mount Elbrus, the highest summit of the Caucasus mountains. An Oriental port quite similar to the port Caterina passed through when she was a slave also figures on the painting.

    According to professor Vecce, “Caterina certainly fed young Leonardo’s imagination with the memories of her travels. Circassian people had a reputation for being untamed, free of mind, and wild. I like to think she taught him the spirit of absolute freedom that can be found in his scientific and intellectual researches. The freedom of a mind that is not bound by prejudices or authority.”
    Other links:
    https://www.finestresullarte.info/en...vinci-s-mother

    https://theconversation.com/leonardo...-europe-202576

    https://www.euronews.com/culture/202...y-half-italian
    Quote Originally Posted by Autrigón View Post
    Europe is fake, european race doesn't exist, it's just a conglomeration of retardeds from their own land.

  2. #2
    Veteran Member
    Apricity Funding Member
    "Friend of Apricity"


    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Last Online
    @
    Location
    Travelling
    Ethnicity
    American
    Ancestry
    Colonial Virginia + Central and Eastern Europe
    Country
    United States
    Region
    Mississippi
    Politics
    Nullifier
    Hero
    John C. Calhoun
    Age
    98
    Gender
    Posts
    29,548
    Thumbs Up
    Received: 21,108
    Given: 11,124

    0 Not allowed!

    Default

    I'm having a hard time seeing how he comes to the conclusion she was a Jew. I've never heard of "Circassian Jews."

  3. #3
    I was blind but now I see
    Apricity Funding Member
    "Friend of Apricity"

    Sebastianus Rex's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Last Online
    02-27-2024 @ 12:51 PM
    Ethnicity
    Portuguese
    Country
    Portugal
    Gender
    Posts
    10,324
    Thumbs Up
    Received: 8,656
    Given: 5,621

    0 Not allowed!

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Smeagol View Post
    I'm having a hard time seeing how he comes to the conclusion she was a Jew. I've never heard of "Circassian Jews."
    Did you read the article? It's explained on this paragraph:

    "Investigating her story, professor Vecce traced another part of the history of the Jews. “Traveling from Russia,” he told me, Caterina “certainly passed through the Taman peninsula, near Crimea, which opens on the Azov sea.” The peninsula owes its name to David of Taman, the king of the Jewish Khazar kingdom that briefly existed there during the seventh to 10th centuries. “It seems that some traces of the Khazar kingdom still existed in the 15th century, when the peninsula was controlled by the Genovese Jewish Ghisolfi family. The region was ruled by Jewish consuls until the Ottoman Empire put an end to it at the end of the 15th century.” Most of the slave ships traveled from the Venetian colony implanted at Azov (then Tana) to Constantinople. From there, we can follow Caterina to Venice, and then to Florence where she was brought by her new master, Donato di Filippo, who put her to work both in his clothing workshop and at the service of his wife. That she was a sex slave is attested by the fact that she already had several children by Filippo when, at 15, she met da Vinci, Filippo’s solicitor, who at first “borrowed” her as a nanny for his daughter Marie and then fell so much in love with her that he freed her from slavery after Leonardo’s birth. “Da Vinci himself was no stranger to the Jews,” says professor Vecce. “His main customers were among the Jewish community of Florence.”"
    Quote Originally Posted by Autrigón View Post
    Europe is fake, european race doesn't exist, it's just a conglomeration of retardeds from their own land.

  4. #4
    Curaca Incal's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Last Online
    Today @ 03:59 AM
    Meta-Ethnicity
    Exotic Med
    Ethnicity
    Racial Tragedy
    Country
    Peru
    Politics
    Xenelasia
    Religion
    Chinas con Culo
    Gender
    Posts
    26,315
    Thumbs Up
    Received: 18,259
    Given: 12,963

    2 Not allowed!

    Default

    Jewish propaganda probably.

  5. #5
    Sup? Apricity Funding Member
    "Friend of Apricity"

    Colonel Frank Grimes's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Last Online
    @
    Meta-Ethnicity
    Spanish
    Ethnicity
    Galician
    Country
    United States
    Region
    West Virginia
    Y-DNA
    Powerful Male
    mtDNA
    Powerful Female
    Politics
    Of the school of Ron Jeremy
    Hero
    Your mom
    Religion
    Rationalist Materialism
    Gender
    Posts
    24,547
    Thumbs Up
    Received: 24,415
    Given: 12,606

    0 Not allowed!

    Default

    I don't see any strong evidence for this claim.

  6. #6
    I was blind but now I see
    Apricity Funding Member
    "Friend of Apricity"

    Sebastianus Rex's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Last Online
    02-27-2024 @ 12:51 PM
    Ethnicity
    Portuguese
    Country
    Portugal
    Gender
    Posts
    10,324
    Thumbs Up
    Received: 8,656
    Given: 5,621

    0 Not allowed!

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Colonel Frank Grimes View Post
    I don't see any strong evidence for this claim.
    Just a new theory, it's all highly speculative, I thought it was interesting to share nevertheless. This article is more balanced:

    https://www.finestresullarte.info/en...vinci-s-mother
    Quote Originally Posted by Autrigón View Post
    Europe is fake, european race doesn't exist, it's just a conglomeration of retardeds from their own land.

  7. #7
    Veteran Member
    Apricity Funding Member
    "Friend of Apricity"


    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Last Online
    @
    Location
    Travelling
    Ethnicity
    American
    Ancestry
    Colonial Virginia + Central and Eastern Europe
    Country
    United States
    Region
    Mississippi
    Politics
    Nullifier
    Hero
    John C. Calhoun
    Age
    98
    Gender
    Posts
    29,548
    Thumbs Up
    Received: 21,108
    Given: 11,124

    0 Not allowed!

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Sebastianus Rex View Post
    Did you read the article? It's explained on this paragraph:

    "Investigating her story, professor Vecce traced another part of the history of the Jews. “Traveling from Russia,” he told me, Caterina “certainly passed through the Taman peninsula, near Crimea, which opens on the Azov sea.” The peninsula owes its name to David of Taman, the king of the Jewish Khazar kingdom that briefly existed there during the seventh to 10th centuries. “It seems that some traces of the Khazar kingdom still existed in the 15th century, when the peninsula was controlled by the Genovese Jewish Ghisolfi family. The region was ruled by Jewish consuls until the Ottoman Empire put an end to it at the end of the 15th century.” Most of the slave ships traveled from the Venetian colony implanted at Azov (then Tana) to Constantinople. From there, we can follow Caterina to Venice, and then to Florence where she was brought by her new master, Donato di Filippo, who put her to work both in his clothing workshop and at the service of his wife. That she was a sex slave is attested by the fact that she already had several children by Filippo when, at 15, she met da Vinci, Filippo’s solicitor, who at first “borrowed” her as a nanny for his daughter Marie and then fell so much in love with her that he freed her from slavery after Leonardo’s birth. “Da Vinci himself was no stranger to the Jews,” says professor Vecce. “His main customers were among the Jewish community of Florence.”"
    Yes and it doesn't make much sense. All he's saying is that she passed through formerly Khazar territory. If she was a Circassian she wasn't a Jew.

    Though I don't think there's enough evidence to prove she was non-Italian either way.

  8. #8
    Veteran Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2014
    Last Online
    Today @ 12:39 PM
    Meta-Ethnicity
    Germanic Celtic Romance
    Ethnicity
    Central/Northwestern Euro
    Country
    United States
    Gender
    Posts
    7,821
    Thumbs Up
    Received: 2,965
    Given: 422

    1 Not allowed!

    Default

    Mama mia, she'sa from Judea!

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. Classify Leonardo da Vinci
    By EagleAtHeart in forum Taxonomy
    Replies: 11
    Last Post: 08-22-2020, 03:50 PM
  2. Roma e Parigi si beccano ancora su Leonardo da Vinci
    By MinervaItalica in forum Italia
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 05-08-2019, 05:41 PM
  3. Classify Leonardo Da Vinci self portraits
    By Karle23 in forum Taxonomy
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 06-19-2018, 01:14 PM
  4. Mystery surrounds Leonardo da Vinci painting worth $100 million
    By MinervaItalica in forum News Articles
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 10-23-2017, 10:07 PM
  5. New Artwork by Leonardo da Vinci Discovered?
    By Eldritch in forum History
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 10-19-2009, 12:35 PM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •