Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1. Childhood
- 2. Florence and Cosimo the Elder
- 3. The Cultural Climate of Florence
- 4. First Years in Florence and the Verrocchio Workshop
- 5. First Works in Florence and the Artistic Milieu
- 6. Early Pursuits in Engineering ??? Hydraulics and the Movement of Water
- 7. The Bust of a Warrior and Leonardo's Creative Method
- 8. Early Participation in the Medici Court
- 9. Leonardo's Personality and Place in Florentine Society
- 10. Important Productions and Collaborations in the Verrocchio Shop
- 11. Leonardo's Colleagues in the Workshop
- 12. Leonardo's Madonna of the Carnation and the Exploration of Optics
- 13. The Benois Madonna and Continued Meditations on the Theme of Sight
- 14. The Madonna of the Cat
- 15. Leonardo, the Medici, and Public Executions
- 16. Leonardo and Ginevra de??? Benci
- 17. Leonardo as Portraitist and Master of the Visual Pun
- 18. The Young Sculptor
- 19. The Madonna Litta
- 20. The Adoration of the Magi and Invention of the High Renaissance Style
- 21. The Adoration and Leonardo's Military Interests
- 22. Leonardo and Allegorical Conceits for the Medici Court
- 23. Early Ideas for the Last Supper
- 24. Leonardo and the Saint Sebastian
- 25. Saint Jerome
- 26. First Thoughts for the Virgin of the Rocks and the Invention of the Mary Magdalene-Courtesan Genre
- 27. Milan
- 28. Leonardo and the Sforza Court
- Bibliography with Endnotes
- Index
1. - Childhood
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 September 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1. Childhood
- 2. Florence and Cosimo the Elder
- 3. The Cultural Climate of Florence
- 4. First Years in Florence and the Verrocchio Workshop
- 5. First Works in Florence and the Artistic Milieu
- 6. Early Pursuits in Engineering ??? Hydraulics and the Movement of Water
- 7. The Bust of a Warrior and Leonardo's Creative Method
- 8. Early Participation in the Medici Court
- 9. Leonardo's Personality and Place in Florentine Society
- 10. Important Productions and Collaborations in the Verrocchio Shop
- 11. Leonardo's Colleagues in the Workshop
- 12. Leonardo's Madonna of the Carnation and the Exploration of Optics
- 13. The Benois Madonna and Continued Meditations on the Theme of Sight
- 14. The Madonna of the Cat
- 15. Leonardo, the Medici, and Public Executions
- 16. Leonardo and Ginevra de??? Benci
- 17. Leonardo as Portraitist and Master of the Visual Pun
- 18. The Young Sculptor
- 19. The Madonna Litta
- 20. The Adoration of the Magi and Invention of the High Renaissance Style
- 21. The Adoration and Leonardo's Military Interests
- 22. Leonardo and Allegorical Conceits for the Medici Court
- 23. Early Ideas for the Last Supper
- 24. Leonardo and the Saint Sebastian
- 25. Saint Jerome
- 26. First Thoughts for the Virgin of the Rocks and the Invention of the Mary Magdalene-Courtesan Genre
- 27. Milan
- 28. Leonardo and the Sforza Court
- Bibliography with Endnotes
- Index
Summary
Few knew and fewer cared to know about the boy's birth in a farmhouse in the tiny hamlet of Anchiano. The mother, an unwed rural girl, bore the oddly sentient child on a quiet Tuscan night in the spring of 1452 and then vanished into obscurity. Little more than her name, Caterina, has survived the centuries, part of the curious and marvelous legacy of her gifted son, Leonardo. Unlettered daughter of a nameless tenant farmer, vestige of medieval feudalism, she gave life to the most salient intellect of the Renaissance. What instincts or grace she imparted to him one cannot say. It is reasonable to believe, however, that she, as much as his notary father, Ser Piero di Antonio, was responsible for his naturally buoyant and restless spirit. Because of the circumstances, the boy was not given a patronymic or traditional family name. Instead, Ser Piero seems to have named him in honor of Saint Leo, a fifth-century pope venerated for his repulse of Attila the Hun and for his potent sermons. Leo's feast day happened to be celebrated during the week of Leonardo's birth.
Caterina probably nursed the infant for many months, because her social stature – and Leonardo's – would not have merited a wet nurse. Any joy shared between mother and child was short-lived, however. She soon relinquished him to Ser Piero, who, in the next year, married Albiera di Giovanni Amadori, a young lady of adequate public standing, and established a proper family. To mitigate the scandal of the illegitimate baby, Ser Piero's parents seem to have arranged, within a year of the birth, for Caterina to wed another peasant, a farmhand and kiln worker of good repute. Issues of love and compatibility never entered into such affairs. However, in accord with contemporary mores, Leonardo's honorable family would have provided her with a sufficient dowry.
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- The Young LeonardoArt and Life in Fifteenth-Century Florence, pp. 5 - 12Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011