However, Paratico is not yet exactly positive about the details of his potentially groundbreaking theory. “I’m sure to a point that Leonardo’s mother was from the Orient, but to make her an oriental Chinese, we need to use deductive method,” he told SCMP.
The Hong-Kong-based historian is giving the final touches to a book entitled Leonardo da Vinci: A Chinese Scholar Lost in Renaissance Italy. “One wealthy client of Leonardo’s father had a slave called Caterina,” Paratico told SCMP. “After 1452, Leonardo’s date of birth, she disappeared from the documents. She was no longer working there.”
Apparently, Caterina (da Vinci’s mother is widely thought to have been named Caterina) was taken to the town of Vinci, outside Florence, to give birth. Paratico’s angle is that she had to be removed from the household due to her improper relationship with her master, Leonardos’ father.
Does the theory sound like a bit of a long shot? Perhaps. But Paratico argues that, already a hundred years ago, the venerable Sigmund Freud claimed that the iconic painting was inspired by da Vinci’s mother, in his 1910 essay, “A Childhood Reminiscence of Leonardo da Vinci.”
Paratico substantiates his thesis further by insisting some aspects of da Vinci’s life suggest an oriental connection. For example, he was left-handed as well as a vegetarian, both of which were uncommon at the time. The art historian also says that Italy was full of oriental slaves during the Renaissance.
He believes that the painting’s background depicts a Chinese landscape, and that the Mona Lisa’s face looks Chinese.
Does it all still sound a little tenuous? Francisco Vizeu Pinheiro, an architect and assistant professor at the University of St Joseph, thinks so, telling SCMP that Paratico is “jumping quickly to conclusions since there’s no concrete evidence.”
Meanwhile, according to the Telegraph, users of the Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo have launched a Chinese-Mona Lisa meme parade, replacing her features with hilarious alternatives, for example the face of the Chinese comedian Zhao Benshan.
“I now understand why her smile looks so mysterious and concealed,” joked a Sina Weibo user. “It’s typically Chinese.”
The Mona Lisa with the superimposed face of Chinese comedian Zhao Benshan.
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