(PDF) ‘In the tomb of Ser Piero’: death and burial in the family of Leonardo da Vinci

(PDF) ‘In the tomb of Ser Piero’: death and burial in the family of Leonardo da Vinci
About
Press
Papers
We're Hiring!
Outline
Title
Abstract
References
All Topics
History
Renaissance Studies
‘In the tomb of Ser Piero’: death and burial in the family of Leonardo da Vinci
Anne Leader
2017
visibility
description
22 pages
Sign up for access to the world's latest research
check
Get notified about relevant papers
check
Save papers to use in your research
check
Join the discussion with peers
check
Track your impact
Abstract
The origins of Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) have fascinated scholars for well over a century. Archival research has revealed much about Leonardo’s origins and his complex family that included four stepmothers and twenty-three half-brothers and half-sisters and their offspring. One source, however, has been overlooked by scholars – a Libro dei defunti, or necrology, kept by the Benedictine monks of the Badia Fiorentina, where Leonardo’s father installed a family tomb in the late fifteenth century. This book of the dead, which lists burials from 1499 through the late eighteenth century, not only offers precious information about which of Leonardo’s relatives found their final rest in Florence at the Badia but also provides invaluable help in reconstructing the disposition of the church interior. This article traces the history of the Da Vinci tomb from its first burial in 1474 to its last in 1614 and provides a transcription and analysis of relevant notices found in the Badia’s Libro dei defunti.
Related papers
Burial within the walls: perceptions and realities of intramural burial in premodern Florence
Anne Leader
The recent revelation that the biological remains of Duke Alessandro de’Medici were partly responsible for stubborn stains on the surfaces of Michelangelo’s stonework in the burial chapel he created for the Medici at their parish church of San Lorenzo gives credence to the concerns of medieval and early modern churchmen and civic authorities who battled, mostly unsuccessfully, to keep cadavers out of church buildings, if not the city itself. This presentation will provide an overview of the processes of interment from the thirteenth through late-eighteenth centuries in Florentine churches and raise questions about attitudes toward death, resurrection, and health in Renaissance Florence. Presented in “Health, medicine, and socio-cultural aspects in the Late Middle Ages and through the Renaissance: new research perspectives.” FAPAB (Forensic Anthropology, Paleopathology and Bioarchaeology) Research Center, Avola, Italy (virtual). 16-17 September 2021. See YouTube video at 2:16-2:53. Corrections included in draft, forthcoming in Acta Palaeomedica-International Journal of Paleomedicine 3 (Feb/Mar 2022)
View PDF
chevron_right
The Death of Leonardo : The Desire for Truth and The Power of The Myth - "Passé présent"; Ecole de Printemps d'Histoire de l'Art - Villa Médicis (Rome)
Noémi Duperron
Antoine Gallay
On the 2nd of May 1519, Leonardo da Vinci, bedridden in the Château de Cloux, is visited by his illustrious protector, Francis I. As the old man tries to sit up to welcome his guest, he is stricken by a dreadful spasm. The king hastens to support his head. Leonardo, filled with joy and gratitude, dies in the arms of his sovereign. That is the story Vasari tells us. None of the other contemporary sources – Lomazzo, Paolo Giovo, or Francesco Melzi – mentions such a romanesque death. However, the story meets with an extraordinary success in Enlightenment France. Still considered by Félibien (1666-1685) as hearsay, the event becomes a genuine historical fact in subsequent biographies : all of them describe Leonardo’s death in the arms of Francis I. It then becomes a subject for painting. Leonardo’s death is now considered as a historic event, worthy of memory. Through the paintings of François-Guillaume Ménageot (1781), Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres (1818) and Jean-François Gigoux (1831), it becomes the symbol of France as the rightful heir of Italian Renaissance. The mythical impact of the story grows during the nineteenth century through the numerous engravings and illustrated histories. However, since the very end of the eighteenth century, some historians have begun to doubt the truth of the event – notably thanks to the rediscovery of some documents by Venturi (1796) and Amerotti (1804). Francis I could not have witnessed the last breath of the painter. A debate of experts rages through the first half of the century, until the falsity of Vasari’s story seems to be unanimously recognised. From a comparative analysis of textual and pictural objects, we would like to propose a global reflection on the stakes of history, between the problem of historical truth and that of the symbolic richness of fiction.
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
Colloque / Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). From the Libro di Pittura to the Trattato. The Circulation, Transmission and Reception of Leonardo’s Ideas and Writings in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries / Rome, 24-25 octobre 2019
Sabine Frommel
Palazzo Carpegna -Salone d'onore Roma, piazza dell'Accademia di San Luca 77
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
Modern double burial in Central Italy: funerary chamber of the Buondelmonti family in the Basilica of Santa Maria dell'Impruneta (Florence)
Antonio Fornaciari
Matteo Bini
Medicina Historica, Vol. 5, N.2, 2021
This work aims to analyze the particular burial of the Buondelmonti, one of the most important aristocratic Florentine families of the late Middles Ages and Modern Age, who had great power not only in the city, but also in the Florentine countryside. Their history has always been linked to the parish church of Santa Maria dell'Impruneta, not far from Florence, where the family built their own burial chamber. Both written and material sources state that the aristocratic Buondelmonti family was buried in this hypogeum, according to the standard double burial rite, with the corpse initially positioned on seats with a central hole and successively placed in an ossuary. This practice, which consisted in using an architectural structure, called sitting colatoio, was adopted to favour the skeletonization of the bodies. This structure was used by members of lay brotherhoods and convents especially in southern Italy, with sporadic cases in other areas of the country. The Buondelmonti tomb appears to be the first example of this kind of burial in Tuscany and, more importantly, the oldest discovered to date in Italy (1591). In light of the data that have emerged from this study, the authors will try to establish the reasons why the members of the family decided to be buried in this anomalous way, and above all how this Florentine family came into contact with this practice around the end of the 1500s.
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
Leonardo da Vinci Studies: The State of the Field at the 500th Anniversary of the Artist's Death
Francesca Fiorani
Renaissance Quarterly, 2022
Leonardo da Vinci studies are in effect two different—almost antagonistic—domains: a narrowly defined field that is so specialized that it scares scholars away (it takes years of dedicated work to learn how to deal with Leonardo's legacy), and a phenomenon of popular culture that is so massive that news about the artist's works makes headlines worldwide. Both aspects of Leonardo studies—the specialized scholarship and the vast public interest—grew exponentially in the past few decades and exploded in 2019, the year that marked the 500th anniversary of the artist's death. Although they only rarely come together, their convergence may offer the best hope for the future of Leonardo studies. Indeed, the recent anniversary provided a reminder that Leonardo da Vinci still touches the imagination of scholars and the general public in ways that force us to ask what is it that connects to our current age. Why is the study of this master of visualization, who made visible what cou...
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
Sacred Tomb, Divine Adornments: Wooden Coffin of Holy King Stefan of Dečani." In Mediaeval Burials (4th-15th Centuries): Spaces, Artwork, Writing, edited by Fabio Coden, 332-355. Verona: Silvana Editoriale, 2025 (ISBN: 978-88-366-5753-7)
Jasmina S. Ciric
Mediaeval Burials (4th-15th Centuries): Spaces, Artwork, Writing. Vol.1., 2025
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
Lisabetta and Lorenzo’s tomb (on Decameron IV 5), «Italica» 94.3 (Fall 2017), pp. 431-447
Maria Clotilde Camboni
Italica, 2017
This paper suggests a new interpretation of the tale of Lisabetta da Messina (Decameron IV,5) in the light of a fact that has thus far been disregarded by scholars: namely, that in both medieval culture, and its basis in Roman law, an individual cannot have more than one grave. In case of dismemberment, the burial place corresponds to where the head is interred. Therefore, the pot of basil in Boccaccio’s tale is Lorenzo’s tomb, and Lisabetta beheads her dead lover in order to be able to perform suitable funeral rites. Taking this into account, her behaviour as well as other aspects of the tale take on new meanings.
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
The singular tomb of Cristoforo and Domenico della Rovere in Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome
Lotte van ter Toolen
Incontri. Rivista europea di studi italiani, 2017
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
VESALIUS review Vasche di Leonardo
Esther Diana
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
REVIEW: Roberta Barsanti and Monica Taddei (eds.), Omaggio a Leonardo per cinque secoli di storia 1519–2019 (Florence: Leo S. Olschki, 2023).
Francesca Fiorani
Metascience, 2024
Book Review: Roberta Barsanti and Monica Taddei (eds.): Omaggio a Leonardo per cinque secoli di storia 1519–2019. Florence: Leo S. Olschki, 2023
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
DOI: 10.1111/rest.12215

Renaissance Studies Vol. 31 No. 3

‘In the tomb of Ser Piero’: death and burial
in the family of Leonardo da Vinci
Anne Leader

The origins of Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) have fascinated scholars for well
over a century. From the initial investigations of Gustavo Uzielli in 1872 to the
comprehensive study by Elisabetta Ulivi in 2008,1 archival research has revealed
much about Leonardo’s origins and his complex family that included four stepmothers and twenty-three half-brothers and half-sisters and their offspring. A
portrait of Leonardo’s extensive family tree emerges from baptismal, tax, and
burial records as well as from financial accounts kept by various religious institutions for which Leonardo and his relatives worked. One source, however, has
been overlooked by scholars – a Libro dei defunti,2 or necrology, kept by the
Benedictine monks of the church of S. Maria di Firenze, familiarly known as the
Badia Fiorentina, where Leonardo’s father Ser Piero da Vinci installed a family
tomb in the late fifteenth century. This book of the dead, which records burials
from 1499 through the late eighteenth century, not only offers precious information about which of Leonardo’s relatives found their final rest at the Badia
Fiorentina but also provides invaluable help in reconstructing the disposition of
the church interior.3 This article traces the history of the Da Vinci tomb from its
first burial in 1474 to its last in 1614 and provides a transcription and analysis of
relevant notices found in the Badia’s Libro dei defunti (see Appendix).
The history of the Da Vinci family tomb exemplifies how a single location,
just over four square metres of terrain, regularly brought together kinfolk in
Renaissance Florence to commemorate yet another son, daughter, parent,
cousin, or in-law and to pray for their safe passage through Purgatory and
Gustavo Uzielli, Ricerche intorno a Leonardo da Vinci (Florence: Stabilimento di G. Pellas, 1872); and Elisabetta Ulivi, Per la genealogia di Leonardo: matrimoni e altre vicende nella famiglia Da Vinci sullo sfondo della Firenze
rinascimentale (Vinci: Museo ideale Leonardo Da Vinci, 2008). See also eadem, ‘Le residenze del padre di Leonardo da Vinci a Firenze nei quartieri di Santa Croce e di Santa Maria Novella’, Bollettino di storia delle scienze
matematiche 27 (2007), 155–71; eadem, ‘Sull’identita della madre di Leonardo’, Bulletino storico pistoiese 111
(2009), 17–49; and eadem, ‘Documenti inediti su Luca Pacioli, Piero della Francesca e Leonardo da Vinci, con
alcuni autografi’, Bolletino di storie delle scienze matematiche 29 (2009), 43–160.
Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale (cited hereafter as BNF), Conventi Soppressi da Ordinare,
Vol. 2, str. 1. (cited hereafter as Libro dei defunti)
For more on the Badia Fiorentina see Alessandro Guidotti, ‘Vicende storico-artistiche della Badia Fiorentina’, in Ernesto Sestan, Maurilio Adriani, and Alessandro Guidotti (eds.), La Badia Fiorentina, (Florence:
Cassa di Risparmio, 1982), 49–231; and Anne Leader, The Badia of Florence: Art and Observance in a Renaissance
Monastery (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2012).
C 2016 The Society for Renaissance Studies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Death and burial in the family of Leonardo da Vinci

325

eventual reunion in Paradise. The Da Vinci grave also reveals that blended families and their inherent complications are not unique to contemporary society.
Leonardo’s responses to his father’s death and the tomb Ser Piero created to
cement his lineage’s memory for eternity underscore the complex nature of
illegitimacy and family ties in early modern Europe.4 That Leonardo chose to
be buried in his adopted French home at Chateau Cloux near Amboise, rather
than be returned to the tomb of his father, raises interesting questions about
who was welcome in a family burial plot, whether in fact or in perception. That
many of Leonardo’s siblings, nieces, and nephews also found their final rest
away from their patriarch reminds us that intention did not guarantee fruition
in Renaissance commemorative practice.
As is well known, Leonardo was born in the Tuscan town of Vinci on 15 April
1452, the illegitimate son of Ser Piero d’Antonio di Ser Piero di Ser Guido da
Vinci (1426–1504) and a servant girl named Caterina.5 Soon after Leonardo’s
birth, Caterina married Accattabriga di Piero del Vacca Buti,6 and Ser Piero
married Albiera di Giovanni di Zanobi Amadori (c. 1436–64), the first of
Leonardo’s four stepmothers.7 Through his mother Caterina, Leonardo would
have five half-siblings: Piera (b. c. 1454), Maria (b. 1457), Lisabetta (b. 1459),
Francesco (b. 1461), and Sandra (b. 1463).8 In 1463, Leonardo’s stepmother
Albiera gave birth to a little girl, baptized Antonia Francesca on 16 June in
Florence.9 Leonardo, then eleven years old and living in Vinci with his grandparents and uncle,10 may never have met little Antonia, for the baby died a few
For the view that Leonardo had a ‘life-long, cordial rapport with his father’, see James Beck, ‘Leonardo’s
Rapport with His Father’, Antichit
a Viva 27 (1988), 5–12.
Florence, Archivio di Stato di Firenze (cited hereafter as ASF), Notarile Antecosimiano 16912, fol. 105v.
Emil M€
oller, ‘Der Geburtstag des Lionardo da Vinci’, Jahrbuch der Preuszischen Kunstsammlungen 60 (1939),
73–4; Carlo Vecce, Leonardo (Rome: Salerno, 2006), 19, 21; Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 8; and eadem, ‘Sull’identita’,
17. See also Antonio’s 1457 tax return, where he names Leonardo’s mother and her husband. ASF, Catasto,
795, fols. 502–03; and 796, fol. 591r. See also Edoardo Villata (ed.), Leonardo da Vinci: i documenti e le testimonianze contemporanee (Milan: Ente Raccolta Vinciana, 1999), 4–6, docs. 2 and 2b.
Ulivi, ‘Sull’identita’, 20–22.
Vecce, Leonardo, 31; Villata, Leonardo, 6, doc. 2b; Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 8–11, 33; and eadem ‘Sull’identita’,
18.
Renzo Cianchi, Ricerche e documenti sulla madre di Leonardo: la dimora dell’Accattabriga e della Caterina in
Campo Zeppi a San Pantaleo di Vinci, un antica chiesetta da salvare: notizie inedite (Florence: Giunti Barbèra, 1975);
Angelo De Scisciolo, Per un’altra storia: studi sull’opera il Ritratto di Ginevra de’ Benci di Leonardo da Vinci (Citta di
Castello: Edimond, 2006), 23; Vecce, Leonardo, 29; Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 33; and eadem ‘Sull’identita’, 20–22.
Florence, Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore di Firenze (cited hereafter as OSMF), Archivio storico delle fedi
di battesimo, Registri Battesimali, http://archivio.operaduomo.fi.it/battesimi/, (cited hereafter as Registri
Battesimali), Vol. 2 (1460–67), fol. 75v (fr. 150). See also Giuseppe Pallanti, Mona Lisa Revealed (Milan: Skira,
2006), 84; Ulivi, ‘Le residenze del padre’, 163; Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 11; eadem ‘Sull’identita’, 18; and eadem
‘Documenti inediti’, 64.
10
The precise dates of Leonardo’s move to Florence and consequent apprenticeship with Andrea del
Verrocchio are unknown. At some point between his grandfather’s death in 1464 and 1469, Leonardo joined
Verrocchio’s workshop in Via dell’Agnolo in the parish of S. Ambrogio, likely about 1466. David Alan Brown,
Leonardo Da Vinci: Origins of a Genius (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1998), 7, 176 nn 21–22;
and Carmen Bambach, ‘Documented Chronology of Leonardo’s Life and Work’, in Carmen Bambach,
Rachel Stern and Alison Manges (eds.), Leonardo Da Vinci, Master Draftsman (New Haven and London: Yale
University Press, 2003), 227.

326

Anne Leader

weeks later and was buried on 21 July 1463 in the parish church of S. Biagio in
Florence (also known as S. Maria Sopra Porta).11 Albiera became pregnant
again soon thereafter but died in childbirth,12 when Leonardo was only twelve.
She was buried, presumably with her unborn child, in San Biagio on 15 June
1464.13 In 1465, Ser Piero married a colleague’s daughter,14 Francesca di Ser
Giuliano Lanfredini (b. 1449),15 who died childless on 21 February 1474,16 several weeks prior to Leonardo’s twenty-second birthday. The following year, Ser
Piero married Margherita di Francesco di Jacopo di Guglielmo Giulli
(b. 1457),17 with whom he had seven children before her death in August 1485:
his first legitimate son Antonio Matteo (b. 1476),18 Maddalena Maria
(b. 1477),19 Ser Giuliano Salvestro (b. 1478),20 Lorenzo Miniato (b. 1480),21
Violante Caterina (b. 1481),22 Domenico Matteo (b. 1483),23 and Bartolomeo
Paolo (b. 1485).24 By 1485 the thirty-three year-old Leonardo had become
brother to five maternal half-siblings and eight paternal half-siblings, six of
whom were half-brothers and seven of whom were half-sisters.25
11
ASF, Arte dei Medici e Speziali (cited hereafter as Medici Speziali), 245, fol. 49v; ASF, Ufficiali poi Magistrato della Grascia (cited hereafter as Grascia), 190, fol. 39r; BNF, Cirri, Necrologio fiorentino, Vol. 18 (Da
Vinci), (cited hereafter as Cirri), 629. See also Ulivi, ‘Le residenze del padre’, 163; and eadem, Per la genealogia,
11.
12
Renzo Cianchi: Vinci Leonardo e la sua famiglia: (con appendice di documenti inediti) (Milan: Mostra della scienza e tecnica de Leonardo, Presso il Museo nazionale della scienza e della tecnica, 1953), 49, 76; Bambach,
‘Documented Chronology’, 227; and Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 11.
13
ASF, Medici Speziali, 245, fol. 67r; ASF, Grascia, 190, fol. 46v; BNF, Cirri, 629; BNF, Poligrafo Gargani,
2150 (Da Vinci), (cited hereafter as Gargani), no. 100. See also Uzielli, Ricerche intorno a Leonardo, 62; Cianchi,
Vinci Leonardo e la sua famiglia, 49, 74, 76; and Ulivi, ‘Le residenze del padre’, 163.
14
Ulivi, ‘Le residenze del padre’, 158; and eadem, Per la genealogia, 12–14.
15
Uzielli, Ricerche intorno a Leonardo, 62; Bambach, ‘Documented Chronology’, 227; Ulivi, ‘Le residenze del
padre’, 163; and eadem ‘Documenti inediti’, 64, 78.
16
ASF, Medici Speziali, 245, fol. 195v; ASF, Grascia, 190, fol. 122r; BNF, Cirri, 631; BNF, Gargani 2150,
no. 95. See also Cianchi, Vinci Leonardo e la sua famiglia, 76; Ulivi, ‘Le residenze del padre’, 155, 163; and
eadem, Per la genealogia, 14.
17
Uzielli, Ricerche intorno a Leonardo, 64; and Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 14–19.
18
Antonio was born in the parish of S. Apollinare on 26 February 1476 and was baptized the next day.
OSMF, Registri Battesimali, Vol. 4 (1474–81), fol. 39v (fr. 78). See also Emil M€
oller, ‘Ser Giuliano di ser Piero
da Vinci e le sue relazioni con Leonardo’, Rivista d’arte 16, (December 1934), 387.
19
Maddalena was born in the parish of S. Apollinare on 4 November 1477 and was baptized two days later.
OSMF, Registri Battesimali, Vol. 4 (1474–81), fol. 70 (fr. 139). See also M€
oller, ‘Ser Giuliano’, 387–8.
20
Giuliano was born in the parish of S. Apollinare on 31 December 1478 and was baptized on the first day
of 1479. OSMF, Registri Battesimali, Vol. 4 (1474–81), fol. 88v (fr. 176). See also M€
oller, ‘Ser Giuliano’, 387.
21
Lorenzo was born on 24 October 1480 and was baptized the next day. OSMF, Registri Battesimali, Vol. 4
(1474–81), fol. 114 (fr. 227). See also Dionisio Pacetti, Lorenzo di Ser Piero da Vinci: fratello di Leonardo e il suo
‘confessionario’ autografo: nel Cod. 1420 della Biblioteca Riccardiana di Firenze (Florence: Quaracchi, 1952), 6; and
Ulivi, Per la genealogia,18.
22
Violante was born on 27 November 1481 and was baptized the next day. OSMF, Registri Battesimali,
Vol. 4 (1474–81), fol. 133 (fr. 265).
23
Domenico was born in the parish of S. Piero Maggiore on 21 February 1483 and was baptized three days
later. OSMF, Registri Battesimali, Vol. 5 (1482–92), fol. 19v (fr. 38).
24
Bartolomeo was born on 29 June in the parish of S. Pier Maggiore and was baptized on 1 July 1485. Ibid.,
fol. 55 (fr. 109).
25
Leonardo had moved to Milan in 1483 to join the Sforza court and returned to Florence in 1500. He was
thus likely absent for the funeral of his third stepmother, his father’s fourth marriage, and the births of all but
one of his nine youngest half-siblings.

Death and burial in the family of Leonardo da Vinci

327

Three months after the death of Margherita Giulli, Leonardo’s father wed
Lucrezia di Guglielmo Cortigiani (1459–1531),26 who bore him eight more
children: Guglielmo Francesco (b. 1486),27 Margherita (b. 1487),28 Benedetto
Francesco (b. 1489),29 Pandolfo Vittorio (b. 1490),30 Guglielmo Francesco
(b. 1492),31 Bartolomeo Vittorio (b. 1493),32 Giovanni Francesco (b. 1499),33
and Lucrezia (b. c. 1504/5).34 Though seven years her senior, Leonardo is
known to have referred to Lucrezia as his ‘dearest beloved mother’ on at least
one occasion.35 Ser Piero seems to have had at least two additional illegitimate
children: an unnamed daughter who was buried in the family tomb at the Badia
on 5 May 1490,36 and a son named Pierfilippo who was buried there in 1516.37
Thus, by the time of his father’s death in July 1504, Leonardo’s family tree
included thirteen half-brothers and nine half-sisters, five of whom had died as
infants. Leonardo’s youngest sibling Lucrezia, fifty-two years his junior, was
likely born in late 1504 or early 1505 and died soon thereafter in March 1505.38

26
Ser Piero married Lucrezia on 12 November 1485. See also Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 19–23; and eadem
‘Documenti inediti’, 65, 145–6, doc. 5.
27
Guglielmo was born in the parish of S. Piero Maggiore on 21 October and was baptized three days later.
OSMF, Registri Battesimali, Vol. 5 (1482–92), fol. 75v (fr. 150). See also Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 21; and eadem,
‘Documenti inediti’, 64, 78.
28
Margherita was born in the parish of S. Piero Maggiore on 16 December 1487 and was baptized the next
day. OSMF, Registri Battesimali, Vol. 224 (1482–92), fol. 89v (fr. 178). See also Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 21.
29
Benedetto was born in the parish of S. Piero Maggiore on 18 March 1489 and was baptized the next day.
OSMF, Registri Battesimali, Vol. 5 (1482–92), fol. 115v (fr. 230). See also Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 21.
30
Pandolfo was born in the parish of S. Piero Maggiore on 28 July 1490 and was baptized the next day.
OSMF, Registri Battesimali, Vol. 5 (1482–92), fol. 137 (fr. 273). See also Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 21.
31
Guglielmo was baptized on 7 June 1492. OSMF, Registri Battesimali, Vol. 6 (1492–1501), fol. 4 (fr. 7).
See also Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 21.
32
Bartolomeo was born in the parish of S. Piero Maggiore on 30 July 1493 and was baptized on 2 August.
OSMF, Registri Battesimali, Vol. 6 (1492–1501), fol. 23v (fr. 46). See also Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 21.
33
Giovanni was born in the parish of S. Piero Maggiore on 9 January 1499 and was baptized the next day.
OSMF, Registri Battesimali, Vol. 6 (1492–1501), fols. 110v–11 (fr. 221). See also Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 21.
34
According to the Libro dei defunti, the baby was named Lucrezia and died on 14 March 1505. BNF, Libro
dei defunti, fols. 3 and 248v. Unfortunately, her baptismal record has not been found. She could be the
Lucrezia Violante baptized on 11 February 1505, the day after her birth in the parish of S. Piero Maggiore.
Her father’s name was not given, perhaps because he was dead rather than because he was unknown. OSMF,
Registri Battesimali, Vol. 226 (1502–13), fol. 51 (fr. 101).
35
An extant letter from Leonardo to Lucrezia begins with the salutation, ‘my dearest beloved mother’.
Beck, ‘Leonardo’s Rapport with His Father’, 8.
36
ASF, Medici Speziali, 247, fol. 4v (5 May); ASF, Grascia, 190, fol. 204v (4 May); and BNF, Cirri, 632. See
also Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 22.
37
The Badia’s Libro dei defunti does not name the boy. City records name him as Pierfilippo, but there is no
indication of a child by this name in the 1506 arbitration of Ser Piero’s will, which lists Lucrezia’s five sons:
Benedetto, Pandolfo, Guglielmo, Bartolomeo, and Giovanni as well as her four stepsons: Antonio, Ser Giuliano, Lorenzo, and Domenico. Moreover, Leonardo noted at the time of his father’s death that Ser Piero had
ten sons and two daughters. While this number could refer to the otherwise unknown Pierfilippo, one
assumes Leonardo was including himself among the ten sons. BNF, Libro dei defunti, fol. 6r (as figlio di Ser
Piero). See also ASF, Grascia, 191, fol. 53r (‘Pierfilippo di S. Piero de Vincci riposte in Badia adi 10 [aprile]’)
and BNF, Cirri, 632 (as Ser Filippo). For the list of Ser Piero’s male heirs see Uzielli, Ricerche intorno a Leonardo,
168, doc. 12. For Leonardo’s accounting of Ser Piero’s children, see Luca Beltrami, Documenti e memorie riguardanti la vita e le opere di Leonardo da Vinci: in ordine cronologico (Milan: Fratelli Treves, 1919), 93, doc. 148.
38
BNF, Libro dei defunti, fols. 3 and 248v. See also note 34 above.

328

Anne Leader

The death of Ser Piero’s second wife Francesca Lanfredini in February 1474
and the inscription recorded as decorating Ser Piero’s now-lost tomb marker
suggest that it was Francesca’s passing that inspired Ser Piero to install a family
monument at the Florentine Badia.39 Ser Piero had worked for the Benedictines from as early as 1451. He rented a notarial shop from the monastery in Via
Ghibellina (then called Via del Palagio) directly opposite the door to the Palazzo del Podesta,40 and he frequently drew up contracts and other documents
for his landlords. The Libro dei defunti refers to Ser Piero as ‘nostro notaio’ (our
notary).41 Though he was not the only notary to perform services for the Benedictines, this appellation suggests a long and familiar relationship between Ser
Piero and the monks. Moreover, Ser Piero resided in various houses near the
monastery for most of his life. From 1457 until at least 1462, Ser Piero lived with
his first wife Albiera Amadori in a house on Borgo dei Greci, in the parish of
S. Firenze, adjacent to the Badia’s home parish. By March 1463, the couple had
moved across town to the parish of S. Maria Sopra Porta, which explains why
Albiera and her infant daughter were buried in the parish church of S. Biagio.
Four years later, Ser Piero was renting a house with his second wife, Francesca
Lanfredini, nearer to his shop in the parish of S. Piero Scheraggio, close by the
Piazza della Signoria and the Badia.42 Nine months later, they moved again,
even closer to the Badia, renting a house in the parish of S. Apollinare on Via
delle Prestanze (now Via dei Gondi), between the Piazza della Signoria and the
monastery; a decade later Ser Piero inherited a house nearby in Via del Palagio
(now Via Ghibellina), in the parish of S. Piero Maggiore, about a five-minute
walk from his notarial shop.43 He remained in this house until his death. Thus,
Ser Piero spent the majority of his professional and personal time in the shadow
of the monastery where he established his family’s memorial.
Francesca Lanfredini was laid to rest in Ser Piero’s new tomb on 21 February
1474, an action recorded in gravedigger accounts kept by the Ufficiali della
Grascia as well as by the Arte Medici e Speziali.44 Corresponding burial records
kept by the Badia no longer survive. As was common practice in the Renaissance, Ser Piero buried children and spouses in the same tomb at the
39
A tomb register compiled by Francesco della Foresta in 1614 indicates that the tomb was dated 1474, suggesting that it was carved after 25 March, the Florentine new year. ASF, Manoscritti, 628, fol. 5, no. 22. Subsequent sepoltuari compiled by Stefano Rosselli, Placido Puccinelli, and Alfredo Cirri repeat this date. Burial
records kept by the commune provide evidence of Francesca’s interment at the Badia on 21 February 1473
(old style), suggesting that Ser Piero had paid for a plot and then ordered a tombstone after her burial.Based
on an eighteenth-century notation found in the so-called Carte Dei kept at the Archivio di Stato, Florence,
Gustavo Uzielli published the tomb’s date as 1472, which has been repeated by several historians. Uzielli,
Ricerche intorno a Leonardo, 110–11; Beltrami, Documenti e memorie, 3, doc. 6; De Scisciolo, Per un altra storia, 36;
and Vecce, Leonardo, 45. For discussion of this discrepancy in the literature, see Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 14.
40
Ser Piero can be located in the Badia’s parish of Santo Stefano alla Badia on 6 March 1451 and was living
and working there by 2 July 1456. Ulivi, ‘Le residenze del padre’, 156–8; and eadem, Per la genealogia, 14.
41
BNF, Libro dei defunti, fol. 3r.
42
Ulivi, ‘Le residenze del padre’, 160–67; and eadem, Per la genealogia, 92.
43
Uzielli, Ricerche intorno a Leonardo, 62–6; Bambach, ‘Documented Chronology’, 227–8; Ulivi, ‘Le residenze del padre’, 156, 166–7; and eadem, Per la genealogia, 92.
44
ASF, Medici Speziali, 245, fol. 195v; and ASF, Grascia, 190, fol. 122r.

Death and burial in the family of Leonardo da Vinci

329

Benedictine monastery until his own death in 1504, after which some of his offspring chose to be buried alongside him. In 1477, Ser Piero and his third wife
Margherita Giulli buried their infant daughter Maddalena in the family grave.45
The next Da Vinci funeral at the Badia was for Margherita herself on 26 August
1485.46 Less than four months later Ser Piero buried Margherita’s infant son
Bartolomeo on 15 December.47 Almost a year later, on 5 December 1486, Ser
Piero buried his baby boy Guglielmo Francesco in the family tomb, less than six
weeks after the child’s birth to Lucrezia Cortigiani.48 A little girl was placed in
Ser Piero’s tomb on 5 May 1490.49 Unfortunately, her interment predates the
compilation of the Badia’s Libro dei defunti, and city burial records do not record
her name, rendering it difficult to know either her identity or that of her
mother. Ser Piero listed his daughters Violante (b. 1481) and Margherita (b.
1487) in his 1495 tax declaration,50 so the 1490 burial cannot have been for
either of them. That Lucrezia was not the mother of the unnamed girl is almost
certain,51 for she was pregnant each year after marrying Ser Piero and thus
would have been unable to have had another daughter among the births of
Guglielmo (October 1486), Margherita (December 1487), Benedetto (March
1489), and Pandolfo (July 1490). The child, who is described as a little girl (figliuola) rather than as an infant (bambina), could have been born to Margherita
Giulli in 1479 or 1484, but, much more likely, she was an illegitimate daughter,
which would explain why she has not turned up in city baptismal records.
Though outside the scope of this article, the impact of Ser Piero’s multiple illegitimate children on Leonardo’s psychology is fascinating to ponder. That
Leonardo certainly had one brother by an unknown mother, as well as a likely
illegitimate sister, is especially interesting in light of the family squabble over
the estates of Ser Piero and his brother Francesco that ensued between
Leonardo, Piero’s first-born son, and the legitimate children born after him to
Margherita Giulli and Lucrezia Cortigiani.
When Ser Piero was buried at the Badia on 10 or 11 July 1504, his corpse was
placed in a grave that already held the remains of two wives and four children.52
45
Maddalena was buried at the Badia on 27 or 29 November 1477. ASF, Medici Speziali, 246, fol. 27v
(27 November); ASF, Grascia, 190, fol. 140v (29 November); BNF, Cirri, 631; BNF, Gargani, 2150, no. 27. See
also M€
oller, ‘Ser Giuliano’, 387–8; and Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 18–19.
46
ASF, Medici Speziali, 246, fol. 104v; ASF, Grascia, 190, fol. 178v; and BNF, Cirri, 631. See also Ulivi, Per la
genealogia, 19.
47
ASF, Medici Speziali, 246, fol. 108v; ASF, Grascia, 190, fol. 180r; and BNF, Cirri, 631. See also Ulivi, Per la
genealogia, 19.
48
OSMF, Registri Battesimali, Vol. 5 (1482–1492), fol. 75v. As often happened with infant deaths, the
gravediggers did not record the baby boy’s name. ASF, Medici Speziali, 246, fol. 118v; ASF, Grascia, 190,
fol. 184r; and BNF, Cirri, 631. See also Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 21–22; and eadem, ‘Documenti inediti’, 64, 78.
49
ASF, Medici Speziali, 247, fol. 4v (5 May); ASF, Grascia, 190, fol. 204v (4 May); and BNF, Cirri, 632.
50
Uzielli, Ricerche intorno a Leonardo, 157–9; and Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 28–9.
51
Pace Ulivi, Per la genealogia.
52
Leonardo made a notation of his father’s death twice in his notes. The Badia’s own records confirm Ser
Piero’s burial in the family tomb, but record the interment date as 11, instead of 10, July as recorded in city burial
registers. BNF, Libro dei defunti, fols. 3r and 277r; ASF, Medici Speziali, 247, fol. 186r; ASF, Grascia, 190, fol. 310r;
and BNF, Cirri, 632. See also Uzielli, Ricerche intorno a Leonardo, 73; Beltrami Documenti e memorie, 93, doc. 148;

330

Anne Leader

Though seventy-eight years old, we know that Ser Piero was working up until
the end, for on 6 July 1504, only three days prior to his death, he reported to
the Badia’s Don Tommaso the contents of Margherita Piaciti’s will, which
included an annual donation of twelve barrels of wine to the monks at the
Badia.53 Despite his advanced age and his profession, Ser Piero died intestate,54
and we have no records of his funeral or of any specifications for commemorative masses. Leonardo, back in Florence since the spring of 1503, noted the
death of his father in his journal: ‘On the ninth of July 1504, a Wednesday, at
seven o’clock in the morning, Piero da Vinci, notary at the Palazzo del Podesta,
my father, died at the hour of seven. He was eighty years old and left ten male
children and two females’(Fig. 1).55 This notation is likely a copy of an earlier
journal entry,56 and it contains two errors: 9 July was a Tuesday, not a
Wednesday, and Ser Piero had only reached seventy-eight years of age.57 Scholars have noted how Leonardo made this record in standard script rather than
his more common mirrored handwriting, likely as a means of marking his
father’s passing in the style of an official record or memorial.58 Whether these
mistakes reflect the fifty-two year old Leonardo’s grief or ambivalence, or both,
is impossible to discern.59 That he made two notations of his father’s death
does nevertheless demonstrate how the event made an impression on the artist,
likely raising thoughts of his own mortality, his illegitimacy, and the complicated nature of his large family group. Though Leonardo does not name his
siblings, they can be identified as the five adult children of Margherita
Giulli: Antonio (then age 28), Giuliano (25), Lorenzo (23), Violante (22), and
Domenico (21); and the six minor children of Lucrezia Cortigiani: Margherita
(then 16), Benedetto (15), Pandolfo (13), Guglielmo (12), Bartolomeo (10),
and Giovanni (5). Unfortunately, Leonardo does not seem to have made any
M€
oller, ‘Ser Giuliano’, 388; Villata, Leonardo, 173, doc. 197; Bambach, ‘Documented Chronology’, 235; De
Scisciolo, Per un’altra storia, 252; and Vecce, Leonardo, 249–50.
53
ASF, Corp. Rel. Soppr., 78, Vol. 262, fol. 103. Ser Piero’s last known notarial act is dated 26 June 1504.
Uzielli, Ricerche intorno a Leonardo, 73.
54
The absence of a will led to a protracted dispute between Leonardo and his half-brothers over the division of Ser Piero’s property. Luca Beltrami, La lite di Leonardo cogli altri figli di ser Piero da Vinci (1507–1508)
(Rome: Direzione della nuova antologia, 1921), 193–207; M€
oller, ‘Ser Giuliano’, 392–4; and Pacetti, Lorenzo di
Ser Piero, 44.
55
‘A dı 9 di luglio 1504 in mercoledı a ore 7 morı Piero da Vinci notaio al palagio del Podesta mio padre a
ore 7. Era d’eta d’anni 80 lasci
o 10 figlioli maschi e 2 femmine.’ London, British Library, Leonardo da Vinci,
Notebook (‘The Codex Arundel’), Arundel MS 263, fol. 272. See also Uzielli, Ricerche intorno a Leonardo, 73;
and Villata, Leonardo, 202, cat. VI.82.
56
‘Mercoledı a ore 7 morı ser Piero da Vinci a dı 9 di luglio 1504 mercoledı vicino alle 7 ore.’ Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Codex Atlanticus, fol. 196v. See also Villata, Leonardo, 202.
57
Ser Piero was born on 19 April 1426. Ulivi, ‘Sull’identita’, 17.
58
Beck, ‘Leonardo’s Rapport with His Father’, 7; Edoardo Villata, ed., Leonardo da Vinci: i documenti e le testimonianze contemporanee (Milan: Ente Raccolta Vinciana, 1999), 202.
59
Beck’s insistence that Leonardo’s use of standard, rather than mirrored, script points to Leonardo’s
‘particularly distressed state of mind’ is difficult to substantiate. Equally difficult to accept is his theory that
Leonardo sought ‘symmetrical finality’ for his father, rounding off to the ‘proverbial four score’ of 80. More
likely, the error stems from the commonplace lack of precision regarding age and birth dates in Renaissance
Florence. Beck, ‘Leonardo’s Rapport with His Father’, 7.

Death and burial in the family of Leonardo da Vinci

331

Fig. 1 Leonardo da Vinci, Notation regarding the death of his father, Ser Piero da Vinci, 1504, ink on paper.
Detail from Notebook (‘The Codex Arundel’), 1478–1518, ink on paper, approx. 205 x 290 mm, London,
C The British Library Board)
British Library, Arundel MS 263, fol. 272 (V

notes about his father’s funeral or his gravesite at the Badia. While it is difficult
to interpret an absence, Leonardo’s seeming lack of emotion, as well as the
dearth of any personal details or terms of endearment point to a distant relationship between father and son.60 It seems safe to assume that Leonardo
would have been dismayed, if not shocked, by his father’s lack of a last will and
testament. This oversight meant that Leonardo was automatically excluded
from inheriting any patrimony by virtue of his illegitimacy. Whether this was
Ser Piero’s intention is impossible to say, though Leonardo’s determination to
fight his siblings, as well as his inclusion in his uncle’s estate, suggest that Ser
Piero’s laziness led to inadvertent rather than deliberate consequences for his
first-born son.61
Seven months after Ser Piero’s burial, the family tomb was opened on
14 March 1505 to bury another infant girl, whose baptismal record has not
been found. The Badia’s Libro dei defunti identifies her as Lucrezia and confirms
the burial date recorded in the Registri dei Morti kept by the Arte dei Medici e
Speziali.62 The Da Vinci tomb remained undisturbed for over a decade until
60
By point of comparison, see the poignant record made by Florentine merchant Luca da Panzano on the
death of his wife Lucrezia on 5 November 1445. Gene A Brucker, The Society of Renaissance Florence: A Documentary Study, Renaissance Society of America Reprint Texts 8 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998), 44–5;
Sharon T. Strocchia, Death and Ritual in Renaissance Florence (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992), 1–3. It should be noted that in correspondence Leonardo was known to address his father
as ‘padre carissimo’, though his diary, bereft of loving terms, complicates this commonplace form of filial
address. Beck, ‘Leonardo’s Rapport with His Father’, 8.
61
Beck, ‘Leonardo’s Rapport with His Father’, 9.
62
City burial records do not record the baby girl’s name, and the Grascia date conflicts with the Badia and
Medici Speziali records, likely a transcription error that left off the one from fourteen. ASF, Medici Speziali,

332

Anne Leader

10 April 1516 when another of Ser Piero’s children was laid to rest. The Badia’s
necrology only lists him as Ser Piero’s son, without a first name. The Grascia
officials identified him as Pierfilippo, and, unfortunately, the burial records
kept by the Arte dei Medici e Speziali for 1516 do not survive. No other documented references to a child by this name have yet come to light, suggesting
either that the gravediggers got the name wrong or that Ser Piero had yet
another illegitimate son by an unknown mother, which could explain why the
monks did not name him in their burial records.63 Support for the former
hypothesis comes from the fact that the death of Ser Piero’s son Pandolfo is
unknown. That he was alive in 1506 is confirmed by his inclusion in the list of
Ser Piero’s legitimate heirs. He was dead by 1520, when he was not named
among Leonardo’s half-brothers in the disbursement of the artist’s estate.64
Ser Piero’s tomb was quiet again for almost a decade. On 3 May 1525,
Ser Giuliano di Ser Piero was buried in the family tomb, an event confirmed
by city burial registries.65 Benedetto, Giuliano’s half-brother by Lucrezia,
died in Vinci but was interred at the Badia on 31 October 1531.66 Lucrezia
wrote her last will and testament on 7 December 1531 and was buried at
her request in the Da Vinci family tomb nine days later on 16 December.67
Neither Benedetto’s nor Lucrezia’s burials are recorded in city registries
and have thus remained unknown to scholars until now. The Misericordia
buried Lorenzo di Ser Piero, a son of Margherita Giulli, in the family tomb
on 30 December 1544, as the necrology notes, because he was a poor
man.68 Lorenzo’s burial by the confraternity dedicated to burying the indigent explains why there is no record of it in city registries and why his death
has gone unnoticed thus far.69
Various grandchildren and in-laws also found their final rest with Ser Piero at
the Badia. On 22 April 1565, Clemenza di Guglielmo di Ser Piero da Vinci was
interred in the family tomb.70 26 April 1569 saw the burial of Margherita, the
247, fol. 195r (14 March); and ASF, Grascia, 190, fol. 315r (4 March). BNF, Libro dei defunti, fol. 3r
(14 March). See also note 34 above.
63
There is no indication of a child by the name Pierfilippo in the 1506 arbitration of Ser Piero’s will. Furthermore, no baptismal record for a Pierfilippo di S. Piero has come to light, and he is not included in any of
S. Piero’s tax records. BNF, Libro dei defunti, fol. 6r (as figlio di Ser Piero); ASF, Grascia, 191, fol. 53r (‘Pierfilippo di S. Piero de Vincci riposte in Badia adi 10 detto [aprile]) and BNF, Cirri, 632 (as Ser Filippo). For the
list of Ser Piero’s male heirs and Leonardo’s accounting of Ser Piero’s children, see note 37 above.
64
Villata, Leonardo, 282–3, doc. 328; and Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 28, 34.
65
BNF, Libro dei defunti, fol. 10r; ASF, Medici Speziali, 249, fol. 73v; ASF, Grascia, 191, fol. 106v; and BNF,
Cirri, 632 (as 3 March). See also M€
oller, ‘Ser Giuliano’, 389; Cianchi, Vinci Leonardo e la sua famiglia, 81; and
Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 27.
66
BNF, Libro dei defunti, fol. 14v. For records of Benedetto’s presence in Vinci in August 1530 and
absence from his mother’s will of 7 December 1531, see Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 27.
67
BNF, Libro dei defunti, fol. 14v. For a partial transcription of Lucrezia’s testament, see Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 23.
68
BNF, Libro dei defunti, fol. 18r.
69
Pacetti did not find any indication of Lorenzo’s death, and Ulivi misinterprets a document of 1532 to
suggest that he was dead by this date. Pacetti, Lorenzo di Ser Piero, 11; Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 24–5; and eadem
‘Documenti inediti’, 78–9.
70
BNF, Libro dei defunti, fol. 28r; and ASF, Medici Speziali, 251, fol. 31v; and Grascia, 192, fol. 71.

Death and burial in the family of Leonardo da Vinci

333

71

wife of Bartolomeo di Ser Piero da Vinci. Clemenza’s brother Piero was buried
in the autumn of 1575,72 and her husband Maestro Francesco di Lodovico Ruggieri of Arezzo joined her in her grandfather’s tomb on 1 December 1579.73
Clemenza’s mother Marietta di Lionardo Buonaccorsi followed on 7 November
1584.74 Marietta’s husband Guglielmo di Ser Piero wrote his last will and testament on 13 May 1542 while residing in Vinci and requested burial in S. Lucia a
Paterno instead of in his father’s tomb at the Badia in Florence,75 where his
wife, two of his four children, and a son-in-law would later elect to be buried.
Violante di Ser Giuliano joined her father and grandfather in the Badia tomb
upon her death in May 1589 or 1590.76 Lisabetta di Antonio Cantucci, widow of
Ser Piero’s grandson Piero di Guglielmo (d. 1575), was buried in the family
grave on 7 October 1599,77 and their son Giovanni joined them on 19 March
1614, the last to be buried in Ser Piero’s tomb.78 In all, twenty-one members of
Leonardo’s extended family would be interred at the Badia Fiorentina under a
tomb marker placed at the southwest corner of the church choir (see Table 1).
Unfortunately, no fragments of the tomb marker have yet been recovered,
but we know of its appearance from a tomb register, or sepoltuario, compiled by
Francesco della Foresta in 1614 (Fig. 2).79 Della Foresta tells us that Piero’s
tomb consisted of a monument, likely a rectangular stone slab measuring about
2.75 metres long and 1.5 metres wide.80 It included a round marble cover, or
chiusino, that bore heraldry and lettering. The coat of arms carried alternating
vertical bands of gold and red, likely made with bronze and red marble.81 Not
much is known about the origins of Ser Piero’s coat of arms, but its use on his
tomb exemplifies the well-established tradition of visualizing legal ownership of
burial space through the use of heraldry, no matter how recent its association
with a particular lineage. As a notary, Ser Piero likely knew well the litigation
that could ensue from contested family plots as well as the common practice
including stipulations in testamentary bequests that family emblems never be
removed from associated tombs and chapels.82
71
Margherita is recorded only as the wife of Bartolomeo without indication of her father’s name. BNF,
Libro dei defunti, 29r (25 April); ASF, Medici Speziali, 252, fol. 128; and ASF, Grascia, 192, fol. 256 (26 April).
72
BNF, Libro dei defunti, fol. 33v (as 20 August); and ASF, Medici Speziali, 253, fol. 292 (as 3 September).
73
BNF, Libro dei defunti, fol. 36v; ASF, Medici Speziali, 253, fol. 136; and ASF, Grascia, 192, fol. 146.
74
BNF, Libro dei defunti, fol. 39r; ASF, Grascia, 193, fol. 372; and BNF, Cirri, 632. See also Ulivi, Per la
genealogia, 27.
75
Ulivi deduces that Guglielmo di Ser Piero was dead by 2 June 1551. Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 26–7.
76
BNF, Libro dei defunti, fols. 42v, 137v, and 298v (as 1589); ASF, Medici Speziali, 253, fol. 368v; and ASF,
Grascia 193, fol. 541v (as 1590).
77
BNF, Libro dei defunti, fol. 59r; ASF, Medici Speziali, 254, fol. 233; and ASF, Grascia, 193, fol. 358v.
78
BNF, Libro dei defunti, fol. 69r; ASF, Medici Speziali, 256, fol. 161v; and ASF, Grascia, 194, fol. 233.
79
Foresta completed his register of 102 monuments on 25 October 1614. ASF, Manoscritti, 628, fols. 1–20.
80
Ibid., fol. 5, no. 22.
81
Della Foresta (ASF, Manoscritti, 628, fol. 5) describes the Da Vinci coat of arms as containing ‘doghe
gialle 4 e rosse 3’. Uzielli reported finding a notation in the Carte Dei that listed an incorrect date of 1472 but
included the tantalizing description of the coat of arms as made with bronze and red marble. Uzielli, Ricerche
intorno a Leonardo, 111; and Beltrami Documenti e memorie, 3, doc. 6.
82
Strocchia, Death and Ritual, 192–4.

334

Anne Leader

Table 1. Relatives of Leonardo di S. Piero da Vinci in chronological order of
burial at Badia
NAME

RELATIONSHIP

BIRTH

DEATH

1. Francesca Lanfredini
2. Maddalena di S. Piero
3. Margherita Giulli
4. Bartolomeo di S. Piero
5. Guglielmo Francesco di S. Piero
6. Una bambina di S. Piero
7. Piero di Antonio
8. Lucrezia di S. Piero
9. Pierfilippo di S. Piero
10. Giuliano di S. Piero
11. Benedetto di S. Piero
12. Lucrezia Cortigiani
13. Lorenzo di S. Piero
14. Clemenza di Guglielmo
15. Margherita
16. Piero di Guglielmo
17. Francesco di Lodovico Ruggieri
18. Marietta Buonaccorsi
19. Violante di S. Giuliano
20. Lisabetta Cantucci
21. Giovanni di Piero

stepmother
half-sister
stepmother
half-brother
half-brother
half-sister
father
half-sister
half-brother
half-brother
half-brother
stepmother
half-brother
half-niece
in-law
half-nephew
in-law
in-law
half-niece
in-law
half-great-nephew

1449
1477
1457
1485
1486
c.1490
1426
c.1504

1474
1477
1485
1485
1486
1490
1504
1505
1516
1525
1531
1531
1544
1565
1569
1575
1579
1584
1589
1599
1614

1478
1489
1459
1480

c.1504
1517

The inscription identified the tomb as belonging to Ser Piero and his
descendants: SEP[ULCRUM] S[ER] PIERANTONII S[ER] PETRI DE VINCIO ET SUORUM,
83
ANNO D[OMI]NI 1474.
The monument probably looked something like the
tomb of the mid-fifteenth-century merchant Bartolomeo Cederni, whose
marker still forms part of the pavement in the Chiostro Verde at S. Maria
Novella (Fig. 3). Della Foresta located Ser Piero’s tomb ‘from the door of the
choir towards the organ’, making clear here and in the entries of nearby tombs
that the Da Vinci monument was at the foot of the Badia’s choir.84
Stefano Rosselli was the next to describe Ser Piero’s tomb in his ‘Sepoltuario
Fiorentino’, compiled in 1657 and copied numerous times (Fig. 4).85 Rosselli’s
description differs from Della Foresta’s in one significant point – he only mentions the chiusino, suggesting that Ser Piero’s tomb cover had been separated
from its original monument, preserving only the portion with the arms and
inscription, thus leaving something much like what survives of Lodovico
83

ASF, Manoscritti, 628, fol. 5.
Ibid., fols. 4v–5v, nos. 18–26.
85
Stefano Rosselli’s transcription of the inscription differs slightly in the abbreviation of ‘suorum’ and the
use of roman numerals for the date: ‘Sep. S. Pierantonii S. Petri de Vincio et suoru. Anno Dni
MCCCCLXXIIII’. Florence, Collezione Rosselli Del Turco, inv. 262, 689, no. 23; ASF, Manoscritti, Vol. 624,
610, no. 23. For more on the autograph original and its copies, see Michelina Di Stasi, Stefano di Francesco
Rosselli: antiquario fiorentino del XVII sec. e il suo Sepoltuario (Florence: Polistampa, 2014), esp. 51–54.
84

Death and burial in the family of Leonardo da Vinci

335

Fig. 2 Francesco della Foresta, Monumenti e Cappelle della Badia di Firenze, 1614, ink on paper, Florence,
Archivio di Stato di Firenze, Manoscritti, 628, fol. 5, no. 22 (photo: Giuseppe Biscione, by permission of
Ministero per i Beni e le Attivita Culturali)

Acciaioli’s tomb (Fig. 5), which was originally installed in 1528 along the choir’s
south balustrade (Fig. 6, no. 21),86 not too far from Ser Piero’s monument.
The next account of Ser Piero’s tomb appeared soon thereafter in a 1664 publication by Don Placido Puccinelli, a Benedictine monk who served in various
offices during his career at the Badia from 1626 to 1685.87 Puccinelli compiled
his Memorie sepolcrali as a means to preserve for posterity the inscriptions from
the Badia’s tomb markers, which were in danger of disappearing to the ravages
of time, weather, and dispersal through renovations of the monastic complex,
especially the repaving of the church interior in 1663. Puccinelli recorded only
the inscription from Ser Piero’s marker and did not include an illustration (as
he did, for example, with the Acciaiuoli tomb), raising the possibility that the Da
Vinci coat of arms had suffered significant damage or was no longer extant by
1664. Puccinelli also provided a different location for the marker, saying it was
in the capitolo nuovo – a room created in the former church narthex – rather
than at the foot of the choir (Figs. 6 and 7). The Badia’s necrology records how
in 1663 the church floor (described as cracked, damaged, and ruined)88 was
86
Acciaiuoli died on 8 August 1527, and his ‘sepolcro nuovo sotto l’organo’ was ready on 24 October 1528.
BNF, Libro dei defunti, fol. 12v.
87
Placido Puccinelli, ‘Memorie sepolcrali dell’Abbadia Fiorentina, e d’altri monasteri, come ancora de’
Magnati Carolingi e d’altri personaggi cospicui’, in Istoria dell’eroiche attioni di Ugo il grande, duca della Toscana,
di Spoleto, e di Camerino, Vicario d’Italia per Ottone III. imperator, e prefetto di Roma. Con la Cronica dell’ abbadia di
Firorenza, suoi privilegi pontifecii e cesarei. Il trattato di circa mille inscrittioni sepolcrali. La galleria sepolcrale, con l’inroduttione della festa di S. Mauro. Et le Memorie di Pescia terra cospicua, e principalissima di Toscana (Milan: Giulio
Cesare Malatesta, 1664), 23, no. 129.
88
BNF, Libro dei defunti, fol. 87

336

Anne Leader

Fig. 3 Tomb of Bartolomeo Cederni, mid 15th century, stone and bronze, Florence, S. Maria Novella, Chiostro
Verde (photo: author)

demolished, with all tomb markers moved to the walls and pavement of the cloister. An eighteenth-century note states that Ser Piero’s tomb cover was installed
in the western wall of the cloister, where a number of fragments remain today.
When historian Gustavo Uzielli visited the Badia in the late nineteenth century
to confirm this report, he found no trace of Ser Piero’s tomb.89 The repaved
church floor included gravesites for displaced families at a cost of fourteen scudi
per plot.90 Thus, the capitolo nuovo tomb described by Puccinelli may have been
89
Without reference to a fondo or folio, Uzielli quotes the Carte Dei as indicating the Vinci tomb ‘in
Badia, nella parete del chiostro verso ponente, chiusino di marmo tondo, con arme di marmo rosso e bronzo,
e con lettere in giro. SS. Petri Antonii S. Petri de Vincio et suorum A.D. 1472’. I have been unable to find this
notation among the Carte Dei kept at the ASF. Uzielli, Ricerche intorno a Leonardo, 110–11.
90
‘Nota come l’anno 1663 fu demolito il suolo della chiesa, che era scosceso, sconcio, e rovinato, e fu
adatto nel modo, che si di prese[n]te si vede co[n] li ordina[n]za delle sepolture; e per opera del P.D. Placido

Death and burial in the family of Leonardo da Vinci

337

Fig. 4 Stefano Rosselli, Sepoltuario Fiorentino, ovverro Descrizione delle Chiese, Cappelle, e Sepolture, loro Armi &
Inscrizioni della Citt
a di Firenze e suoi Contorni, 1657, ink on paper, Florence, Rosselli Del Turco Collection,
C Polistampa s.n.c.)
MS 262, p. 689, no. 23 (V

Fig. 5 Tomb Marker of Messer Lodovico Acciaiuoli, 1527, stone, Florence, Badia Fiorentina, cloister (photo: author)

338

Anne Leader

Fig. 6 Author’s reconstruction of Renaissance tombscape, Badia Fiorentina, orientated to the east all dimensions
and locations approximate. 1. Cappella Maggiore; 2. Boscoli Chapel; 3. Covoni Chapel; 4. Del Bianco Chapel; 5.
Covoni Chapel; 6. Giugni; 7. Girolami; 8. Covoni; 9. Covoni; 10. Doni; 11. Minori; 12. Caccini; 13; Belcari Raineri;
14. Fazzi; 15. Nobili; 16. Ricciardi; 17. Lapucci; 18. Ducci da Pistoia; 19. Unknown; 20. Giunti Modesti; 21.
Acciaiuoli; 22. Da Vinci; 23. Valori; 24. Carlini; 25. Leopardi; 26. Dalle Fonte; 27. Baldini; 28. Griselli; 29. Giugni; 30.
Barducci dalle Pozze; 31. Giovanni; 32. Landini; 33. abbots of the monastery; 34. Ambrogini; 35. Da Romena; 36.
Parigi; 37. Ricoveri; 38. Giugni; 39. Pandolfini; 41. Salvetti; 42. Salviati; 43. Cerpellini; 44. Cederni; 45. Lapi; 46. Portinari; 47. Riccomanni. 48. Doni; 49. Boscoli; 50. Speldini; 51. Sermartelli; 52. Caffereci; 53. Buonafedi; 54.
Unknown; 55. Nelli; 56. Da Rabatta; 57. Pandolfini; 58. Buonaventuri; 59. Unknown; 60. Tedaldi; 61. Librari

Puccinelli furono trasportate tutte li inscrittioni Armi, e memorie delle sepolture a[n]tiche ch’erano i[n]
chiesa et adattate nel Claustro contiguo al capitolo si attorno la muraglia, come a[n]cora nel pavime[n]to di
detto claustro, si come il detto Padre l’ha delineate nella sua Galleria sepolcrale. E tutte le sepolture di detto
suolo, o pavimento sono state rifatte da minaci e restituite alle famiglie, e ciascuna sepoltura costa quattordici
scudi.’ BNF, Libro dei defunti, fol. 87.

Death and burial in the family of Leonardo da Vinci

339

Fig. 7 Plan, orientated to the east. Badia Fiorentina as it appears today

one such new grave, installed for the Da Vinci family in the capitolo nuovo after
1663 but never used for burial.
Though Ser Piero’s tomb cover appears to be lost, there is good reason
to believe that his burial chamber still exists under the Badia church floor.
Locating the original gravesite, however, is made difficult by the fact that it
lies under a church interior significantly remodelled between 1627 and
1664,91 the third rebuilding of the monastic church. The renovation
involved gutting the church interior, destroying the medieval choir and
presbytery, rotating the church orientation by ninety degrees, and levelling
as well as repaving the floor. As discussed above, knowledge of the original
91
Placido Puccinelli, ‘Cronica dell’ abbadia di Firorenza, suoi privilegi pontifecii e cesarei’, in Istoria dell’eroiche attioni di Ugo il grande. . . (Milan: Giulio Cesare Malatesta,1664), 1–24; and Guidotti, ‘Vicende storicoartistiche’, 78–9, 100 nn. 303, 313, and doc. 21.

340

Anne Leader

topography of tombs at the Badia comes primarily from two sources: Della
Foresta’s sepoltuario and the manuscript Book of the Dead that records burials
at the Badia from 1499 through the middle of the eighteenth century.92
Although these two sources are indispensible to reconstruct the original layout
of the Badia’s commemorative monuments, they were written by and for people familiar with the church and thus are not always clear in their descriptions. While the sepoltuario by Della Foresta is somewhat known to scholars
through the copy provided by Rosselli, the Badia’s necrology, now kept at the
Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze in the Conventi Soppressi da Ordinare fondo, has been overlooked as a source of information about the original
layout of the Badia’s interior and the burials therein.
Typical of property inventories and church tomb records, Della Foresta’s
registry is written according to placement, as if the antiquarian were walking
around the church, pointing out monuments as he moved through the space.
His sepoltuario can be reconstructed with some precision and mapped on a floor
plan of the building (Fig. 6). However, since we know neither the original
dimensions nor the distances from one tomb to another at the Badia, we need
additional archaeological evidence to say precisely where each marker once lay;
only one monument – that of Giannozzo Pandolfini (Fig. 6, no. 57) – remains
in its original location. Nevertheless, we can with some certainty locate the
general vicinity of each tomb with respect to its neighbours by following Della
Foresta’s description. The Badia’s necrology corroborates this reconstruction,
as it frequently gives spatial locators for individual tombs, which taken together
and compared with Della Foresta, confirm the positions of individual monuments within the Benedictine compound. The necrology is organized by
date of burial and is further indexed by family name. (See Appendix) Like
Puccinelli’s Memorie sepolcrali, it cannot be read as topography of the Badia’s
burial grounds but nevertheless corroborates the hypothetical tomb scape
suggested by Della Foresta’s sepoltuario.
Della Foresta recorded that Ser Piero’s tomb (Fig. 6, no. 22) was near the
entrance to the choir, in the area of the church that currently serves as its
right (west) aisle (Fig. 7). While we know neither the precise location nor
the size of the choir, we can assume that it was in the nave close by the
entrance to the cloister, from which the monks would access the enclosed
space multiple times per day.93 Both the Badia’s necrology and Della Foresta regularly use the choir to locate tombs that flanked its enclosure,
including those belonging to the Acciaiuoli (Fig. 6, no. 21),94 Valori (no.
92

BNF, Libro dei defunti; ASF, Manoscriti, 628.
Leader, Badia of Florence, 36.
94
The Acciaiuoli family tomb was set up to honor M. Lodovico Acciaiuoli (d. 8/8/1527) by his son. The
monks recorded a memorial held 24 October 1528 at the ‘sepolcro nuovo’, described as ‘sotto l’organo’.
Other burial entries include notations that it was ‘appresso al rastrello del choro’ and ‘fra le panche sotto
l’organo’. BNF, Libro dei defunti, fols. 12v (M. Lodovico), 15v (Oretta Pitti-Acciaiuoli), 16v (Agnoletta), 33
(Luca), 60v (Marietta), 71 (infant daughter of Lione), 71v (Francesco di Giovanni), 74v (Lione), and 76 (Marietta Nerli-Acciaioli).
93

341

Death and burial in the family of Leonardo da Vinci
95

96

97

23, at the center of the choir), Carlini (no. 24), Leopardi (no. 25), and
Dalle Fonte (no. 26) families,98 as well as that of the Da Vinci (no. 22). The Badia’s necrology specifies that the Da Vinci tomb lay at the foot of the choir (that
is, its western end), next to its entrance gate on its southern side and near the
tomb of the Carlini family (Fig. 6, nos. 22 and 24 respectively).99
Originally, the Badia church was oriented east to west with a three-bay nave
between the cappella maggiore and the narthex.100 The nave’s central bay was
bound at the north by the campanile and a chapel belonging to the Covoni
family (Fig. 6, no. 5) and at the south by a door to the cloister (today a small
chapel dedicated to S. Spirito). A mid-fourteenth-century description of the six
altars present in the Badia indicates that the Covoni family altar, dedicated to
Mary Magdalene, was adjacent to the choir;101 this description helps place the
choir in the nave in the area bound by the narthex at the west and a pair of piers
at the east.
Della Foresta’s description of Ser Piero’s tomb indicates that it was on the
same side of the church as the organ, which is known to have been at the end of
the southern aisle, close by the cloister entrance in the adjacent nave.102 Della
Foresta further specified that Ser Piero’s tomb was near those belonging to the
95
The Valori tomb is described as restored and in the choir in front of the lectern. BNF, Libro dei defunti,
fols. 67v (Baccio di Filippo); 73 (Maddalena di Filippo); 74 (Baccio); 76 (Ottavio di Filippo). Their new, postrenovation tomb was installed at the pier that divided the sanctuary from the S. Spirito chapel. Ibid., fol. 88v
(Baccio di M. Filippo).
96
The Carlini tomb was installed in front of the entrance to the choir about a century after that of Ser
Piero in 1573, though the earliest recorded burial was in 1580. ASF, Manoscritti, 628, fol. 5v; and BNF, Libro
dei defunti, fols. 37 (Contessina Griselli-Carlini); 39 (Pardo); 39v (daughter of Matteo); 66v (Matteo di
Michele); 67 (Cassandra di Cesare); and 72 (Cesare). After the renovations, the Carlini tomb was adjacent to
the new Valori tomb near the S. Spirito Chapel. BNF, Libro dei defunti fol. 90.
97
The Leopardi tomb was originally at the foot of the choir’s balustrade, sometimes described as in the
middle of the church, among the benches in front of the choir, or as opposite the organ. BNF, Libro dei
defunti, fols. 32 (two children of Tommaso di Girolamo); 33v (Lisabetta di Tommaso); 40 (Dianora);
41 (daughter of Girolamo); 41v (M. Piero); 43v (Alessandro di Tommaso); 65v (M. Tommaso); 71v (M. Girolamo
di Tommaso); 79 (Cammilo di Tommaso); 80v (GiovanBattista). M. Tommaso di M. Girolamo Leopardi was the
first to be buried in the renovated church on 23 November 1663 in a new tomb adjacent to the pier at the corner
of the campanile. Ibid., fol. 87.
98
The Dalle Fonte tomb was located at the corner of the choir at the foot of balustrade. Ibid., fols. 60
(Luca); 67v (Maddalena); 74v (Jacopo). A new Dalle Fonte tomb was installed near the S. Spirito chapel. Ibid.,
fol. 87v (Giovanni).
99
The Da Vinci tomb is described as on the right-hand side of the choir entrance, most assuredly meaning when
facing the high altar, that is, the south side. Ibid., fols. 3, 6, 10, 14v, 18, 29, 33v, and 69. See Appendix for transcriptions.
100
Today, the former high altar contains the relocated tomb of Count Ugo of Tuscany, and the former narthex to the west of the nave’s westernmost bay (now the cappella S. Mauro) is now only accessible from the
Chiostro degli Aranci. For more on the medieval Badia see Leader, Badia of Florence, 27–39.
101
A parchment scroll preserved at the Florentine State Archives describes a privilege given to the Badia to
grant indulgences to all who visited the monastery’s six altars. It describes one dedicated to Mary Magdalene
‘sub cancellis chori’. I am indebted to Giuseppe Biscione for sharing this document with me, as it was mislabelled by eighteenth-century archivists as dating from 1453 rather than 1353, the date clearly written in several
places on the original parchment. ASF, Diplomatico, Normali, Firenze, S. Maria della Badia detta Badia Fiorentina, 14 July 1453.
102
Puccinelli: ‘Cronica dell’Abbadia Fiorentina’, 4; Guidotti, ‘Vicende storico-artistiche’, 64; and Leader,
Badia of Florence, 50.

342

Anne Leader

Acciaiuoli (Fig. 6, no. 21) and Carlini families (no. 24), which he also described
as bordering the choir.103 This reconstruction is confirmed by the Badia’s
necrology, which indicates that Ser Piero’s tomb was at the foot of the choir (a
pie del coro), next to its entrance gate (al lato al cancello del coro), on its right hand
side (da man’ destra), and nearby the tomb of the Carlini (no. 24),104 which burial records describe as in front of the choir’s entrance, in line with the central
axis of the church.
Based on what is known about the configuration of the original medieval
church, the choir entrance and Ser Piero’s tomb were in the area between the
campanile and the present S. Spirito chapel, perhaps extending into the current S. Mauro Chapel. Ser Piero’s tomb was in the pavement at or near the
south-west corner of the choir, between its presumed central access point and
its southern balustrade. His tomb was in the vicinity of several others, also
described as along the choir’s balustrade. Unfortunately, without any known
dimensions for the choir or any ability to determine the size of the individual
tombs that surrounded it, it is difficult to be more precise regarding the location of Ser Piero’s monument. Nevertheless, Ser Piero’s tomb offers clear proof
that members of the extended Da Vinci clan, and possibly Leonardo himself,
frequently visited the Badia to bury and commemorate their patriarch and
many of his numerous offspring. Whether Leonardo was unwelcome or uninterested in joining his relatives at the Badia remains unknown. What is certain
is that neither of Ser Piero’s first-born sons, illegitimate and legitimate, shared
their father’s tomb. As is well known, Leonardo wrote his testament and was
buried in Amboise in 1519. His half-brother Antonio died at some point
between 1525 and 1532. Neither he nor any of his children by Nanna di Giovanni Luperelli were buried in Ser Piero’s Badia tomb, and their burial sites are
presently unknown. Burial rights in the Da Vinci tomb at the Badia seem to
have been handled by Ser Piero’s second legitimate son Ser Giuliano, who
shared both profession and final resting place with his father, and Guglielmo,
Giuliano’s half-brother. Their descendants, as well as their two childless brothers Lorenzo and Benedetto, took advantage of the familial plot at the Badia.
Though Ser Piero built his tomb for all his descendants, as typically happened
in Florentine families, even those much less complicated than the Da Vinci, not
all elected to await Paradise alongside their patriarch.
Independent Scholar, Auburn, Alabama

103

ASF, Manoscritti, 628, fols. 4v–5v, nos. 21–24.
The Da Vinci tomb is also described as ‘inanzi’, ‘vicino’, and ‘presso’ the choir. Elsewhere, this position
is further specified as ‘in sul canto della porta dell rastrello di coro’. BNF, Libro dei defunti, fols. 3, 6, 10, 14v,
18, 28, 29, 33v, 39, 42v, 59, and 69.
104

Death and burial in the family of Leonardo da Vinci

343

APPENDIX

Book of the Dead, Badia Fiorentina105 (BNF, Conventi Soppressi da ordinare, Badia, Vol. 2, str. 1).
fol. I
Anno 1666
Libro nel quale sono registrati tutti li defunti, che sono stati interrati i[n] q[uest]a nostra
chiesa, e ridatti i[n]sieme in q[uest]o libro da diversi libri essendosi smarriti, e malconci
dalla piena del fiume Arno l’anno. . .da me d[on] Placido Puccinelli vicario della sagrestia, e per maggiore facilita abbiamo fatto i[n] un’ libro a parte p[er] via d’Alfabeto
l’estratto dei detti defunti.
fol. 3
davinci
Ricordo chome addi ii106 di luglio 1504 mori S[er] piero davi[n]ci n[ost]ro
notaio et fu sepulto nella sua sepultura – ch[e] è a pie del coro107
davinci

davinci

Davinci

davi[n]ci

davi[n]ci

Ricordo chome adi 14 di martio 1505 mori una fa[n]ciulla picchola chiamata
Lucretia108 figliula di S. Piero da vi[n]ci et fu sepulta nella sepulture loro
fol. 6
Et addi 10 d[e]l decto [aprile 1516]109 mori uno figliuo di S[er] piero da vinci
e fu sepolto nella sua sepoltura allato a rastrello del choro
fol. 10
Ri[cor]do come oggi q[uest]o di 3 di maggio 1525 passo al sig[no]re S[er]
Giuliano di S[er] Piero davincci notaio flore[n]tino d’eta d’an[n]i 54 et fu
sepulto nella loro sepult[ura] ch[e] è i[n] sul canto della por[ta] dell rastrello di coro lallora dal p[rimo] Abbatie
fol. 14v
E addi ultimo d’ottobr[e 1531] mettemo nel sepolcro di S[er] Piero davi[n]ci
b[e]n[ed]etto s[u]o figluolo d[e]ta d’anni 44 i[n] circa el quale era morto a
vi[n]ci piu te[n]po ina[n]zi venne i[n] una copsa d[et]to di
E addi xvi di dice[m]br[e] [1531] sepellimo mona Lucr[e]tia figluola fu di
guglelmo cortigiani et donna terza110 di S[er] Piero da Vi[n]ci d[e]ta danni
60 i[n] circa fu messa nel suo sepolcro p[re]sso al rastrello d[e]l coro

105
The book consists of two parts: the first section is a chronological list, in many different hands, of burials as they happened. Family names were written in the margins to facilitate indexing. The second section is
the alphabetical index, which lists each family burial by date. The book has been repaginated several times
and folio numbers herein refer to the pencil numeration found in the lower left corner of each recto, numbered I–IV and 1–254.
106
While there are two dots over the vertical pen strokes, Ser Piero did not die until 9 July. City burial
records date his interment to 10 July, while the Badia’s records suggest it happened on 11 July.
107
Location of tomb seems to have been added in a different hand.
108
Different hand, possibly added later.
109
Indexed as 1515 o.s.
110
Lucrezia was, in fact, the fourth wife of Ser Piero. She was, however, the third of his wives to be buried
in the Badia after Francesca Lanfredini (1474) and Margherita Giulli (1485).

344

Anne Leader

fol. 18
Et adi 30 di dicembre [1544] se seppelli Lorenzo di S[er] piero davinci nella
sua sepoltura allato al cancello del coro et lo seppelli la compagnia della
misericordia p[er]che era povero huomo
fol. 28
davi[n]ci
A di 22 detto [aprile 1565] si sepelli i[n] n[ost]ra Chiesa Mad[on]na Cleme[n]za da Vi[n]ci donna di maestro Fra[n]cesco d’Arezzo, e fu sepolta i[n]
quella da Vi[n]ci
fol. 29
davi[n]ci
Et adi 25 d’aprile 1569 fu sotterratta nella nostra Chiesa M[adonn]a Margherita donna fu di Bartolomeo davinci e fu messa nella sepoltura di . . . da
Vinci ch[e] è dina[n]zi al coro
fol. 33v
Da Vinci Addi 20 d’Agosto [1575] fu sepolto nella n[ost]ra chiesa di Badia M[esser]
Piero da vinci nella sepoltura de[i] vinci vicino al coro da ma[n] destra
fol. 36v
Rugieri
Addi primo di dicembre [1579] si seppelli M[aestr]o Franciesco di Lodovico
Ruggieri darezzo nella nostra chiesa nella sepoltura di S[er] Pietro da Vinci
che è dalla porta del coro a man destra. Addi quarto detto si celebro uno
fisio solenne nella nostra chiesa per l’anima di M[aestr]o Francesco di
Lodovico Ruggieri sopradetto
fol. 39
Vinci
Adi 7 di Nove[m]bre [1584] si sepelli nella n[ost]ra chiesa nella loro sepoltura inanzi alla porta del rastrello del choro Mona Marietta, don[n]a fu di
Guiglelmo da Vinci d’anni 80 in circa
fol. 42v
Da Vinci E a di 30 di d[e]tto [Maggio 1589] si seppelli nella n[ost]ra chiesa
m[a]d[on]na Violante donna ch[e] fu gia di Piero Coralmi e figliuola fu di
S[er] Giuliano di S[er] Piero da Vincci di eta di anni 72 in circa si messe
nella sua sepoltura la quale e pie d[e]l rastrel[lo] d[e]l coro ch[e] enn’
chiusino di marmo tondo lavorato doppio
fol. 59
da Vinci
Adi 7 detto [ottobre 1599] si seppelli nella nostra chiesa Mad[onn]a Lisabetta
Cantucci da Vinci, e fu sepolta nella lor’ sepoltura appresso il choro, e si
fece poi l’offitio solenne secondo il solito
fol. 69
Adi 19 Marzo 1613 [o.s.]
Vinci
M[es]s[er] Gio[vanni] figliuolo del Mag[nifi]co M[es]s[er] Piero da Vinci fu
sepellito nella nostra chiesa nella propria sepoltura posta a canto a rastrello
del Choro appresso a quella de Carlini
fol. 137v
1589
Violante di Ser Giuliano di Ser Piero da Vinci vedova di Piero Coralmi d’eta
di 72 an[n]i
fol. 232
1579:
Sig[nor]e Fran[ces]co del Sig[nor]e Lodovico Ruggieri d’Arezo, p[rim]o [Dicem]bre
fol. 248v
1504:
Sere Piero da Vinci 11 Lug[li]o
davi[n]ci

Death and burial in the family of Leonardo da Vinci
1505:
1515:
1525:
1531:

1544:
1565:
1569:
1575:
1584:
1589:
1599:
1613:

107
111

345

Sig[no]r[ina] Lucretia Bambina di Ser Piero. 14 Marzo
N: figlio di Ser Piero. 10 Aprile
Sere Giuliano di Ser Piero di 54 Anni. 3 Maggio
Sig[no]r[e] Bened[ett]o di Sere Piero di 44 Anni. 30 Ottobre
Sig[no]ra Lucrezia del Sig[no]r[e] Guglielmo Cortigiani. 3.a [terza]111
Mog[li]e di Sere Piero di 60 anni. 16 [Dicem]bre
Sig[no]r[e] Lorenzo di Sere Piero. 30 [Dicem]bre
Sig[nor]a Clemenza Mog[li]e del Medico Fran[ces]co [di Lodovico Ruggieri]
d’Arezzo: 22 Ap[ri]le
Sig[no]ra Margherita Mog[li]e del Sig[no]r[e] Bartolommeo. 25 Ap[ri]le
Sig[no]r[e] Piero. 20 Agosto
Sig[no]ra Marietta Mog[li]e del Sig[no]r[e] Guglielmo d’80 Anni. 7 [novem]bre
Sig[no]ra Violante di Ser Giuliano di Ser Piero, Mog[li]e del Sig[no]r[e]
Piero Coralmi di 72 Anni. 30 Maggio
Sig[no]ra Lisabetta Cantucci mog[lie]. . . 7 Ottobre
Sig[no]r[e] Giovanni del Sig[no]r[e] Piero. 19 Marzo [o.s.]

Location of tomb seems to have been added in a different hand.
See note 110 above.
References (40)
trato della Grascia (cited hereafter as Grascia), 190, fol. 39r; BNF, Cirri, Necrologio fiorentino, Vol. 18 (Da Vinci), (cited hereafter as Cirri), 629. See also Ulivi, 'Le residenze del padre', 163; and eadem, Per la genealogia, 11. 12 Renzo Cianchi: Vinci Leonardo e la sua famiglia: (con appendice di documenti inediti) (Milan: Mostra della sci- enza e tecnica de Leonardo, Presso il Museo nazionale della scienza e della tecnica, 1953), 49, 76; Bambach, 'Documented Chronology', 227; and Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 11.
ASF, Medici Speziali, 245, fol. 67r; ASF, Grascia, 190, fol. 46v; BNF, Cirri, 629; BNF, Poligrafo Gargani, 2150 (Da Vinci), (cited hereafter as Gargani), no. 100. See also Uzielli, Ricerche intorno a Leonardo, 62; Cianchi, Vinci Leonardo e la sua famiglia, 49, 74, 76; and Ulivi, 'Le residenze del padre', 163.
Ulivi, 'Le residenze del padre', 158; and eadem, Per la genealogia, 12-14.
Uzielli, Ricerche intorno a Leonardo, 62; Bambach, 'Documented Chronology', 227; Ulivi, 'Le residenze del padre', 163; and eadem 'Documenti inediti', 64, 78.
ASF, Medici Speziali, 245, fol. 195v; ASF, Grascia, 190, fol. 122r; BNF, Cirri, 631; BNF, Gargani 2150, no. 95. See also Cianchi, Vinci Leonardo e la sua famiglia, 76; Ulivi, 'Le residenze del padre', 155, 163; and eadem, Per la genealogia, 14.
Uzielli, Ricerche intorno a Leonardo, 64; and Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 14-19.
18 Antonio was born in the parish of S. Apollinare on 26 February 1476 and was baptized the next day.
OSMF, Registri Battesimali, Vol. 4 (1474-81), fol. 39v (fr. 78). See also Emil M€ oller, 'Ser Giuliano di ser Piero da Vinci e le sue relazioni con Leonardo', Rivista d'arte 16, (December 1934), 387. 19 Maddalena was born in the parish of S. Apollinare on 4 November 1477 and was baptized two days later.
OSMF, Registri Battesimali, Vol. 4 (1474-81), fol. 70 (fr. 139). See also M€ oller, 'Ser Giuliano', 387-8. 20 Giuliano was born in the parish of S. Apollinare on 31 December 1478 and was baptized on the first day of 1479. OSMF, Registri Battesimali, Vol. 4 (1474-81), fol. 88v (fr. 176). See also M€ oller, 'Ser Giuliano', 387. 21 Lorenzo was born on 24 October 1480 and was baptized the next day. OSMF, Registri Battesimali, Vol. 4 (1474-81), fol. 114 (fr. 227). See also Dionisio Pacetti, Lorenzo di Ser Piero da Vinci: fratello di Leonardo e il suo 'confessionario' autografo: nel Cod. 1420 della Biblioteca Riccardiana di Firenze (Florence: Quaracchi, 1952), 6; and Ulivi, Per la genealogia,18. 22 Violante was born on 27 November 1481 and was baptized the next day. OSMF, Registri Battesimali, Vol. 4 (1474-81), fol. 133 (fr. 265).
Domenico was born in the parish of S. Piero Maggiore on 21 February 1483 and was baptized three days later. OSMF, Registri Battesimali, Vol. 5 (1482-92), fol. 19v (fr. 38).
Bartolomeo was born on 29 June in the parish of S. Pier Maggiore and was baptized on 1 July 1485. Ibid., fol. 55 (fr. 109).
Leonardo had moved to Milan in 1483 to join the Sforza court and returned to Florence in 1500. He was thus likely absent for the funeral of his third stepmother, his father's fourth marriage, and the births of all but one of his nine youngest half-siblings.
ASF, Grascia, 190, fol. 140v (29 November);
BNF, Cirri, 631; BNF, Gargani, 2150, no. 27. See also M€ oller, 'Ser Giuliano', 387-8; and Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 18-19.
ASF, Medici Speziali, 246, fol. 104v; ASF, Grascia, 190, fol. 178v; and BNF, Cirri, 631. See also Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 19.
ASF, Medici Speziali, 246, fol. 108v; ASF, Grascia, 190, fol. 180r; and BNF, Cirri, 631. See also Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 19.
OSMF, Registri Battesimali, Vol. 5 (1482-1492), fol. 75v. As often happened with infant deaths, the gravediggers did not record the baby boy's name. ASF, Medici Speziali, 246, fol. 118v; ASF, Grascia, 190, fol. 184r; and BNF, Cirri, 631. See also Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 21-22; and eadem, 'Documenti inediti', 64, 78. 49 ASF, Medici Speziali, 247, fol. 4v (5 May);
ASF, Grascia, 190, fol. 204v (4 May); and BNF, Cirri, 632. 50 Uzielli, Ricerche intorno a Leonardo, 157-9; and Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 28-9.
Pace Ulivi, Per la genealogia. 52 Leonardo made a notation of his father's death twice in his notes. The Badia's own records confirm Ser Piero's burial in the family tomb, but record the interment date as 11, instead of 10, July as recorded in city burial registers. BNF, Libro dei defunti, fols. 3r and 277r; ASF, Medici Speziali, 247, fol. 186r; ASF, Grascia, 190, fol. 310r; and BNF, Cirri, 632. See also Uzielli, Ricerche intorno a Leonardo, 73; Beltrami Documenti e memorie, 93, doc. 148;
fol. 195r (14 March); and ASF, Grascia, 190, fol. 315r (4 March). BNF, Libro dei defunti, fol. 3r
in the 1506 arbitration of Ser Piero's will. Fur- thermore, no baptismal record for a Pierfilippo di S. Piero has come to light, and he is not included in any of S. Piero's tax records. BNF, Libro dei defunti, fol. 6r (as figlio di Ser Piero);
ASF, Grascia, 191, fol. 53r ('Pierfi- lippo di S. Piero de Vincci riposte in Badia adi 10 detto [aprile]) and BNF, Cirri, 632 (as Ser Filippo). For the list of Ser Piero's male heirs and Leonardo's accounting of Ser Piero's children, see note 37 above. 64
Villata, Leonardo, 282-3, doc. 328; and Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 28, 34.
BNF, Libro dei defunti, fol. 10r; ASF, Medici Speziali, 249, fol. 73v; ASF, Grascia, 191, fol. 106v; and BNF, Cirri, 632 (as 3 March). See also M€ oller, 'Ser Giuliano', 389; Cianchi, Vinci Leonardo e la sua famiglia, 81; and Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 27.
BNF, Libro dei defunti, fol. 14v. For records of Benedetto's presence in Vinci in August 1530 and absence from his mother's will of 7 December 1531, see Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 27.
BNF, Libro dei defunti, fol. 14v. For a partial transcription of Lucrezia's testament, see Ulivi, Per la genea- logia, 23. 68 BNF, Libro dei defunti, fol. 18r. 69 Pacetti did not find any indication of Lorenzo's death, and Ulivi misinterprets a document of 1532 to suggest that he was dead by this date. Pacetti, Lorenzo di Ser Piero, 11; Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 24-5; and eadem 'Documenti inediti', 78-9.
BNF, Libro dei defunti, fol. 28r; and ASF, Medici Speziali, 251, fol. 31v; and Grascia, 192, fol. 71.
Libro dei defunti, 29r (25 April);
ASF, Medici Speziali, 252, fol. 128; and ASF, Grascia, 192, fol. 256 (26 April).
BNF, Libro dei defunti, fol. 33v (as 20 August); and ASF, Medici Speziali, 253, fol. 292 (as 3 September).
BNF, Libro dei defunti, fol. 36v; ASF, Medici Speziali, 253, fol. 136; and ASF, Grascia, 192, fol. 146. 74 BNF, Libro dei defunti, fol. 39r; ASF, Grascia, 193, fol. 372; and BNF, Cirri, 632. See also Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 27. 75 Ulivi deduces that Guglielmo di Ser Piero was dead by 2 June 1551. Ulivi, Per la genealogia, 26-7.
BNF, Libro dei defunti, fols. 42v, 137v, and 298v (as 1589); ASF, Medici Speziali, 253, fol. 368v; and ASF, Grascia 193, fol. 541v (as 1590).
BNF, Libro dei defunti, fol. 59r; ASF, Medici Speziali, 254, fol. 233; and ASF, Grascia, 193, fol. 358v. 78 BNF, Libro dei defunti, fol. 69r; ASF, Medici Speziali, 256, fol. 161v; and ASF, Grascia, 194, fol. 233. 79 Foresta completed his register of 102 monuments on 25 October 1614. ASF, Manoscritti, 628, fols. 1-20. 80 Ibid., fol. 5, no. 22.
Della Foresta (ASF, Manoscritti, 628, fol. 5) describes the Da Vinci coat of arms as containing 'doghe gialle 4 e rosse 3'. Uzielli reported finding a notation in the Carte Dei that listed an incorrect date of 1472 but included the tantalizing description of the coat of arms as made with bronze and red marble. Uzielli, Ricerche intorno a Leonardo, 111; and Beltrami Documenti e memorie, 3, doc. 6.
Strocchia, Death and Ritual, 192-4.
Fig. 6 Author's reconstruction of Renaissance tombscape, Badia Fiorentina, orientated to the east all dimensions and locations approximate. 1. Cappella Maggiore; 2. Boscoli Chapel; 3. Covoni Chapel;
Del Bianco Chapel; 5. Covoni Chapel; 6. Giugni; 7. Girolami; 8. Covoni; 9. Covoni; 10. Doni; 11. Minori; 12. Caccini; 13; Belcari Raineri;
Fazzi; 15. Nobili; 16. Ricciardi; 17. Lapucci; 18. Ducci da Pistoia; 19. Unknown; 20. Giunti Modesti; 21. Acciaiuoli; 22. Da Vinci; 23. Valori; 24. Carlini; 25. Leopardi; 26. Dalle Fonte; 27. Baldini; 28. Griselli; 29. Giugni; 30. Barducci dalle Pozze; 31. Giovanni; 32. Landini; 33. abbots of the monastery; 34. Ambrogini; 35. Da Romena; 36. Parigi; 37. Ricoveri; 38. Giugni; 39. Pandolfini; 41. Salvetti; 42. Salviati; 43. Cerpellini; 44. Cederni; 45. Lapi; 46. Por- tinari;
Riccomanni. 48. Doni; 49. Boscoli; 50. Speldini; 51. Sermartelli; 52. Caffereci; 53. Buonafedi; 54. Unknown; 55. Nelli; 56. Da Rabatta; 57. Pandolfini; 58. Buonaventuri; 59. Unknown; 60. Tedaldi; 61. Librari Puccinelli furono trasportate tutte li inscrittioni Armi, e memorie delle sepolture a[n]tiche ch'erano i[n] chiesa et adattate nel Claustro contiguo al capitolo si attorno la muraglia, come a[n]cora nel pavime[n]to di detto claustro, si come il detto Padre l'ha delineate nella sua Galleria sepolcrale. E tutte le sepolture di detto suolo, o pavimento sono state rifatte da minaci e restituite alle famiglie, e ciascuna sepoltura costa quattordici scudi.' BNF, Libro dei defunti, fol. 87. 1505: Sig[no]r[ina] Lucretia Bambina di Ser Piero. 14 Marzo 1515: N: figlio di Ser Piero. 10 Aprile 1525: Sere Giuliano di Ser Piero di 54 Anni. 3 Maggio 1531: Sig[no]r[e] Bened[ett]o di Sere Piero di 44 Anni. 30 Ottobre Sig[no]ra Lucrezia del Sig[no]r[e] Guglielmo Cortigiani. 3.a [terza] 111
Mog[li]e di Sere Piero di 60 anni. 16 [Dicem]bre 1544: Sig[no]r[e] Lorenzo di Sere Piero. 30 [Dicem]bre 1565: Sig[nor]a Clemenza Mog[li]e del Medico Fran[ces]co [di Lodovico Ruggieri] d'Arezzo: 22 Ap[ri]le 1569: Sig[no]ra Margherita Mog[li]e del Sig[no]r[e] Bartolommeo. 25 Ap[ri]le 1575: Sig[no]r[e] Piero. 20 Agosto 1584: Sig[no]ra Marietta Mog[li]e del Sig[no]r[e] Guglielmo d'80 Anni. 7 [novem]bre 1589: Sig[no]ra Violante di Ser Giuliano di Ser Piero, Mog[li]e del Sig[no]r[e] Piero Coralmi di 72 Anni. 30 Maggio 1599: Sig[no]ra Lisabetta Cantucci mog[lie]. . . 7 Ottobre 1613: Sig[no]r[e] Giovanni del Sig[no]r[e] Piero. 19 Marzo [o.s.]
April 06, 2026
Anne Leader
University of Virginia, Post-Doc
Anne Leader is Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities (IATH) at UVA. She received her Ph.D. in the History of Art and Archaeology, with a specialization in Italian Renaissance Art, from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University in 2000. She was Rush H. Kress Fellow at Villa I Tatti, The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies in Florence from 2008 to 2009. She has held teaching positions at the University of New Hampshire, Kean University, The City College of New York, and the Savannah College of Art and Design (Atlanta).

Her research and publications explore a range of topics in Italian Renaissance art, architecture, urbanism, and religious tradition, including: Michelangelo’s final project for the Sistine chapel, Benedictine monasticism and artistic patronage, Renaissance workshop practices and artistic authorship, and, most recently, burial practices and tomb monuments including articles on the tomb of Leonardo da Vinci's father. She is especially interested in sacred art and architecture, specifically in how images and buildings were used by individuals and institutions for devotional practice, doctrinal instruction, and propaganda.

She has published articles and reviews in The Burlington Magazine, caa.reviews, Human Evolution, The Journal for the Society of Architectural Historians, The Renaissance Quarterly, Renaissance Studies, Speculum, Studies in Iconography, and the Visual Resources Association Bulletin. Her monograph was published by Indiana University Press in 2012. MQUP and MIP published her edited volumes in 2018. She inaugurated the Italian Art Society's IASblog in 2013 and served as editor until 2016. As an IATH Visiting Fellow, she is preparing her database of Florentine tombs (ca. 1250-1650) for publication online as an interactive website (http://sepoltuario.iath.virginia.edu/).

If you would like PDFs of any publications listed here, please contact Anne Leader via messages or email.
Papers
105
Followers
1,967
View all papers from
Anne Leader
arrow_forward
Related papers
Tracing the Da Vinci Tomb in the Badia Fiorentina
Anne Leader
2016
In the late fifteenth century, the father of Leonardo da Vinci, whose origins have fascinated scholars for well over a century, installed a tomb for himself and his descendants in the Florentine monastery known today as the Badia Fiorentina. Leonardo’s complex family included four stepmothers and twenty-three half brothers and half sisters and their offspring, many of whom were buried at the Badia. This article traces the history of the Da Vinci tomb from its first burial in 1474 to its last in 1614 to recount which family members were buried therein and when. Since the church was radically renovated in the mid-seventeenth century, this paper also provides evidence for where the tomb chamber was originally located and where its remnants might be found through archeological excavation.
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
Leonardo da Vinci: The Untold Story of His Final Years
Jan Sammer
Full text available for download; second revised edition, 2025
During the final years of his extraordinarily productive life – spent in Rome in the service of Giuliano de’ Medici and in France at the court of King Francis I – Leonardo accomplished some of his greatest feats in the realms of art, engineering and architecture, while pioneering almost single-handedly the study of human anatomy. It was in this period that he at last succeeded in bringing to completion such renowned artworks as the Mona Lisa, the Saint Anne and the Leda. Furthermore, with the help of his talented young assistant, Francesco Melzi, he endeavoured to compile his vast trove of observations and scientific inquiries into treatises fit for publication. In contrast to his earlier practice, he now strove to complete what he had previously left in abeyance. In order to tell the full story of Leonardo’s final years, the author has conducted a thorough reassessment of the available evidence in the light of contemporary historical events, while drawing on hitherto unknown primary sources, identified in the course of a decade of systematic archival research. As a result, it has become possible to fill numerous gaps in current knowledge, while sweeping away misconceptions and previously unchallenged assumptions. What emerges is a fresh and more authentic picture of this critical period of Leonardo’s life.
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
The fabric of evidence: reconstructing the history of Leonardo’s Trattato della pittura and rethinking the narratives of its reception since the sixteenth century
Ricardo De Mambro Santos
2019
Divided in two volumes also available in a manageable e-book format, this monumental editorial enterprise – exquisitely illustrated with high quality images – is the result of many years of research and the extensive collaboration among well-known scholars who have already explored, in previous individual publications, the intricate net of Leonardo’s writings and their complex, fascinating channels of circulation, transformation and reinterpretation since the sixteenth century. Published within the series Brill’s Studies on Art, Art History, and Intellectual History, this edition presents a remarkably well-conducted scholarly analysis of Leonardo da Vinci’s Trattato della pittura,1 examined in its polyhedral aspects, as well as a philologically accurate translation of the original text into English, prepared by Claire Farago and Janis Bell.2 Accompanied by an almost labyrinthine, yet clearly arranged, critical apparatus to the text, the present edition is further enriched by capacio...
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
Henrico Boscano's Isola beata : new evidence for the Academia Leonardi Vinci in Renaissance Milan
Jill Pederson
Renaissance Studies, 2008
Historians have long debated the possibility of an academy in Quattrocento Milan centred around Leonardo da Vinci. Such an academy has been variously characterized based on textual and material sources. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, however, the existence of this group has been vigorously denied in the scholarship on Leonardo. This article presents new information on the academy derived largely from the previously unpublished Renaissance manuscript, the Isola beata (c.1513). The text provides details of the academy's membership, as well as information that illuminates Leonardo's Milanese intellectual circle and helps to contextualize it in relation to other contemporary Italian Renaissance academies.
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
Notes on Leonardo da Vinci's grandfather, investigating his life abroad and the possibility he had more than one famous grandson
SUSAN GRUNDY
From what is known, Antonio da Vinci was 56 years old when his son Piero was born in Tuscany in 1426. Although Piero is considered Antonio's eldest child, nevertheless his father's decades-long absence from Italian archives raises the possibility of a previous family left abroad. There are no records of Antonio in Tuscany before 1414, and he was in Morocco and Spain from at least 1402 to 1404. These travels could be more significant than previously thought. If he had another son before Piero, this could resolve certain conflicting information in Giorgio Vasari's biography of Leonardo da Vinci. In his first edition, published in 1500, Vasari stated that the famous artist and inventor was Piero's nephew. However, in his 1568 edition, he changed the relationship between Piero and Leonardo to father and son, notably without explanation. Yet, it later turned out that the illegitimate son was born in 1452 and could not have been 75 in 1519, the age at death given in both editions. This article draws attention to an interpretation that resolves the conflict. Antonio could have had a grandson who was famous polymath and a grandson who was a wellknown painter-both named Leonardo. Key points: Contradictions in the records; Antonio da Vinci and his life abroad; the (sur)name (da) Vinci; evidence of more than one Leonardo da Vinci; another grandson, born in a Genoese colony
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
From the "Libro di Pittura" to the "Trattato". The Circulation, Transmission and Reception of Leonardo's Ideas and Writings in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries | International Study Days | Rome, Accademia Nazionale di San Luca, Palazzo Carpegna, Salone d'onore | 24-25/10/2019
Vita Segreto
Salvatore Carannante
Anna Sconza
Francesco Moschini
Francesca Fiorani
Janis Bell
Under the High Patronage of the President of the Italian Republic Conception and Scientific Responsibility Francesco Moschini, Vita Segreto Scientific Committee Janis Bell, Francesco Cellini, Francesco Moschini Vita Segreto, Carlo Vecce The aim of the Study Days is to focus the attention of international scholars working in a variety of fields, and of Leonardo experts and enthusiasts, on studies and research regarding the transmission of da Vinci’s ideas and writings and their circulation and reception in Italy and across Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In the abridged version known as the Treatise on Painting, the Libro di Pittura compiled by Francesco Melzi was widely circulated in the decades following Leonardo’s death. Avidly read by artists and collectors closely associated with the accademie del disegno, it profoundly influenced the theory, practice and teaching of the time. The speakers will examine previously unexplored or little-known aspects (biographical, linguistic, theoretical, graphic and collection-related) of the complex historical process via which Melzi’s re-elaboration of a group of Leonardo’s original manuscripts, and his subsequent compilation of the Codex Vaticanus Urbinas 1270, eventually led to the production of numerous manuscript copies and to the Italian editio princeps: the Trattato della Pittura di Lionardo da Vinci.
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
The rector of the hospital and his wife: two artificial mummies of the late 15th century from Siena (central Italy)
Gino Fornaciari
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
Rev. M. Buonocore (ed.), Gaetano Marini (1742-1815). Protagonista della cultura europea. Scritti per il bicentenario della morte, Città del Vaticano 2015
Jerzy Żelazowski
Antiquité Classique 87, 2018
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
Review: Claire Farago, Janis Bell, and Carlo Vecce, eds., The Fabrication of Leonardo da Vinci's "Trattato della pittura": With a Scholarly Edition of the Italian Editio Princeps (1651) and an Annotated English Translation (Leiden: Brill, 2019).
Claire Farago
Janis Bell
Francesca Fiorani
Art Bulletin, 2020
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
„Death and the Patron: Andriolo de Santi, Bonifacio Lupi, and the Chapel of San Giacomo in Padua‟, in Il Santo, 39 (1999), pp. 687-697.
Louise Bourdua
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
Related topics
History
European History
Art History
Italian Studies
Renaissance Studies
History of Florence
Burial Customs
Explore
Papers
Topics
Features
Mentions
Analytics
PDF Packages
Advanced Search
Search Alerts
Journals
Academia.edu Journals
My submissions
Reviewer Hub
Why publish with us
Testimonials
Company
About
Careers
Press
Content Policy
580 California St., Suite 400
San Francisco, CA, 94104