Is the most beautiful
and iconic woman in the history of art actually a man? When one compares the
Mona Lisa to other works in question (see right), the facial similarities are
striking. The Washington Post reports on the controversial theory:
A male apprentice,
longtime companion and possible lover of Leonardo da Vinci was the main
influence and a model for the “Mona Lisa” painting, an Italian researcher said.
But the researcher,
Silvano Vinceti, said Wednesday the portrait also represents a synthesis of
Leonardo’s scientific, artistic and philosophical beliefs. Because the artist
worked on it at various intervals for many years, he was subjected to different
influences and sources of inspiration, and the canvas is full of hidden
symbolic meanings. “The ‘Mona Lisa’ must be read at various levels, not just as
a portrait,” Vinceti said.
The apprentice Gian
Giacomo Caprotti, known as Salai, worked with Leonardo for more than two
decades starting in 1490. Vinceti described their relationship as “ambiguous,”
and most art historians agree Salai was a Leonardo lover.
Several Leonardo works,
including “St. John the Baptist” and a lesser-known drawing called “Angel Incarnate,”
were based on Salai, Vinceti told a news conference at the Foreign Press
Association. These paintings show a slender, effeminate young man with long
auburn curls. Vinceti said similarities with the “Mona Lisa’s” nose and mouth
are striking.
by JacobSloan on
February 3, 2011 in News
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