New theory on Leonardo da Vinci’s mother divides experts

Scholar says Renaissance pioneer may have been born to female slave from the Northern Caucasus

Leonardo da Vinci portrait
Leonardo da Vinci's mother is widely agreed to have been called Caterina but little else is known
(Image credit: Stock Montage/Getty Images)

The identity of Leonardo da Vinci’s mother is a “mystery that has intrigued and confounded scholars for centuries”, said The New York Times.

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 Sorcha Bradley is a writer at The Week and a regular on “The Week Unwrapped” podcast. She worked at The Week magazine for a year and a half before taking up her current role with the digital team, where she mostly covers UK current affairs and politics. Before joining The Week, Sorcha worked at slow-news start-up Tortoise Media. She has also written for Sky News, The Sunday Times, the London Evening Standard and Grazia magazine, among other publications. She has a master’s in newspaper journalism from City, University of London, where she specialised in political journalism.