Leonardo Da Vinci: Son of a Slave? By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News normalize font | increase font Sep. 26 — Leonardo Da Vinci may have been the son of a Middle Eastern slave, according to the director of an Italian museum located near the Renaissance master's birthplace in Tuscany. Alessandro Vezzosi, director of the Museo Ideale Leonardo Da Vinci, announced last week at the museum that, after over 25 years of research, he has concluded that Da Vinci's father was a minor nobleman or craftsman named Ser Piero Da Vinci, while the artist's mother was a Middle...