Mona Lisa is a Man: Salai & Gian Giacomo Caprotti?

Researchers say the Mona Lisa, da Vinci's model, may have been a man named Gian Giacomo Caprotti aka Salai. He was Leonardo's male apprentice, longtime companion and possible lover.

Art historians have long theorized about the Mona Lisa painting, as well as Leonardo Da Vinci's other works of art.

Salai, or Gian Giacomo Caprotti, was an effeminate young artist who worked with da Vinci for 25 years.

Do you think the Mona Lisa is really a man or is it just another conspiracy theory?

Art historians have variously claimed that the Mona Lisa depicts Leonardo’s mother, courtesans, or even the artist himself but nobody every said it was a man.

If the Mona Lisa is Salai, that would explain the small L for Leonardo and an S for Salai hidden within the portrait. The letters were uncovered by Italian researchers using CSI-type techniques.

Here's a comparison picture between the famous portrait of the Mona Lisa and a painting of Salai or Gian Giacomo Caprotti.

If you look closely, they're very similar. I think that, indeed, the Mona Lisa was always a man.