Dude Looks Like A Lady

Aaaah, the Mona Lisa, an enigmatic beauty. No one really knows who she was, or do they?

Some scholars say the painting was a self-portrait of a disguised Leonardo da Vinci, while others say it is clearly Leo's mom. Many others believe Mona is Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a wealthy Florentine silk merchant.


St John The Baptist

And now comes Silvano Vinceti, the head of a team of researchers, who thinks the painting was inspired by Gian Giacomo Caprotti, who worked with DaVinci as a child, and later became one of his most trusted companions. Vinceti also claims that many of da Vinci's works, including two paintings of St John the Baptist and a lesser-known drawing called “Angel Incarnate,” were based on Caprotti, and all of them portray a slim, rather effeminate youth with curly hair. 

Vincetti, who has noted the similarity between those works and the Mona Lisa, particularly in the depiction of mouths and noses, claims they are all definitely Caprotti mouths and noses, and says, “Salai was a favourite model for Leonardo, [who] certainly inserted characteristics of Salai in the ... Mona Lisa.” 

Angel Incarnate

Caprotti began living with, and working for, DaVinci in 1490, when he was about 10 years old. He continued working as DaVinci's assistant for the next 20 years, and earned the nickname Salai, or Little Devil. Salai was the subject of several erotic drawings produced by the Renaissance genius. 

Which leads Vincetti to also claim that Salai was "probably Leonardo’s lover.” Vincetti adds that Salai often stole from DaVinci, but he was always forgiven.

So, is Mona a man? If she, er, he is, was he Leo's lover?

Only that smile knows for certain.

source