Vinci · Florence · genealogy
The family by Leonardo da Vinci
Parents, grandparents, uncle, half-brothers and half-sisters: what the archives really allow us to reconstruct.
The short answer
A child born out of wedlock, but integrated into the paternal family
Leonardo was born on April 15, 1452 from a relationship between Ser Piero di Antonio da Vinci, young notary, and a woman named Caterina. The parents do not marry. Ser Piero then married several women from the Florentine bourgeoisie; Caterina, for her part, founded a family with Antonio di Piero Buti, nicknamed Accattabriga.
Around five years old, Leonardo appeared in the home of his paternal grandfather Antonio to Vinci. He therefore grew up in contact with his father, his grandparents and especially his uncle Francesco. He will have many half-brothers and half-sisters from both lineages, but no known German brother or sister.
Family tree
Two families reunited by Leonardo
The branches are organized by generation. The lateral lines distinguish the descendants of Ser Piero from those of Caterina.
Generation of grandparents and Vinci's home
Antonio da Vinci and Lucia
Antonio records Leonardo's birth. Their house welcomes the child in the 1457 census.
Francesco da Vinci
Brother of Ser Piero, close to Leonardo in age and probably important in his rural childhood.
Ser Piero da Vinci
Florentine notary, married four times and father of many legitimate descendants.
Leonard
Natural son of Ser Piero and Caterina. No known children.
Caterina
She then married Antonio di Piero Buti, known as Accattabriga. His full identity remains debated.
Collateral branches and indirect offspring
Half-brothers and half-sisters of Ser Piero
A siblings especially younger than Leonardo, born from the four successive marriages of his father. The modern descendants studied mainly come from this lineage.
Children of Caterina and Accattabriga
Leonardo also has half-brothers and half-sisters on his mother's side, in the family formed after his birth.
Tree reading: Leonardo is in the center, at the junction of two homes. He has no known direct descendants; the "descendants of Leonardo" therefore designate collateral parents coming in particular from his paternal half-brothers.
Parents
Ser Piero and Caterina: certainties and hypotheses
Notarized documents are solid on certain points, much less on the precise origin of Caterina.
An ambitious Florentine notary
Ser Piero, born in 1427, belongs to a familiar lineage of the notarial profession. He works in Florence, works for powerful institutions and families and cannot pass on his profession to a son born out of wedlock. This legal situation helps explain why Leonardo does not follow the family path.
Ser Piero does not live constantly with his son, but he does not disappear from his life. He probably facilitates his entry into Andrea del Verrocchio's studio in Florence. His four marriages produced a large family, especially when Leonardo was already an adult.
An identity still debated
The first name Caterina is documented, as is her marriage to Antonio di Piero Buti, known as Accattabriga. On the other hand, its precise origin fuels several hypotheses. Martin Kemp identified her with Caterina di Meo Lippi, a young woman from the Vinci region. Carlo Vecce more recently proposed a Caterina from the Caucasus and reduced to slavery before her emancipation.
These proposals should not be merged as if they were both certain. They are based on different readings from the archives. A serious article therefore distinguishes the assured core - the first name, motherhood, subsequent marriage - reconstructions still debated.
Vinci's home
Grandparents and Uncle Francesco
Leonardo's childhood is not reduced to the opposition between an absent father and a distant mother.
An intergenerational home
The 1457 land register places young Leonardo in the house of his grandfather Antonio, with his grandmother Lucia, Ser Piero, his first wife, Albiera, and Uncle Francesco. This household explains how a child born out of wedlock could be socially recognized while remaining excluded from certain professional paths.
Francesco, closer to Leonardo in age and linked to the Vinci campaign, undoubtedly counted in his familiarity with waters, plants, reliefs and rural activities. However, we must speak of biographical probability rather than an influence directly documented by Leonardo.
Brothers and sisters
Huge and late siblings
Modern genealogies commonly identify twenty-three half-brothers and half-sisters in the two family branches.
Known German brother
No other children common to Ser Piero and Caterina are documented.
Weddings of Ser Piero
His successive unions create a very numerous paternal branch.
Half-brothers and sisters
Figure often retained by modern genealogical reconstructions.
Child of Leonard
No direct descendants are known.
Caution on lists: counts may vary depending on whether children who died at a young age are included and whether reconstructions of the maternal branch are included. Several paternal sisters died shortly after birth and appear in family funeral records.
Property and inheritance
Why the family reappears at the end of its life
The question of inheritance reveals the tensions between Leonardo and his half-brothers.
No children, but a family far from extinct
When Ser Piero died in 1504, Leonardo's lack of will and birth status complicated his rights. Relations with certain half-brothers also revolved around the estate of Uncle Francesco. Judicial archives show that the family is not a distant setting: it intervenes concretely in the property and rights of the painter.
Leonardo dies without a known child. In his French will of 1519, his main heirs were mainly chosen relatives - Francesco Melzi, Sala§ and his servant Battista de Vilanis - while his half-brothers received a sum of money. The "descendants of Leonardo" identified today are therefore collateral descendants of Ser Piero's family, not his direct descendants.
On site
Three places to understand its origins
The visit benefits from combining landscape, documents and historical caution.
Museo Leonardiano
The museum places Leonardo back in its territory and provides a documented biography, without reducing his history to the birthplace alone.
Casa Natale
The house traditionally associated with his birth above all allows us to read the rural landscape. The precise location of the birth should not be presented as absolutely certain.
Santa Croce Church
The baptismal font recalls the baptism of the child shortly after birth and the registration of the family in the local community.
Continue
Works, museums and collection
Sources
Documents and references
Museo Leonardiano
Biographical chronology and context of Vinci.
Archives and locationsThe Toscana di Leonardo
Family grave and members buried in Florence.
StudyNew family tree
Scientific reconstruction of the da Vinci lineage.
PhotographsWikimedia Commons
Sheets, authors and licenses of the photographs used.
FAQs
Questions about Leonardo's family
Who were Leonardo da Vinci's parents?
His father was the notary Ser Piero di Antonio da Vinci. His mother, named Caterina, then married Antonio di Piero Buti, known as Accattabriga. His full identity remains debated.
Did Leonardo have brothers and sisters?
Yes, many half-brothers and half-sisters from families formed separately by Ser Piero and Caterina. No first brother or sister is known.
Did Leonardo da Vinci have children?
No children or direct descendants are documented. The family's modern descendants come from the branches of its half-brothers.
Why didn't Leonardo become a notary like his father?
His status as a child born out of wedlock closed normal access to the family notary corporation. This constraint probably favored another training, that of the artistic workshop.
Is Anchiano's house certainly his birthplace?
It is traditionally recognized and visited as his birthplace, but the family register gives the date of birth without indisputably specifying the exact building.
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