Salaì

Gian Giacomo Caprotti da Oreno, better known as Salaì (1480 – 19 January 1524), was an Italian artist and pupil of Leonardo da Vinci from 1490 to 1518. Salaì entered Leonardo's household at the age of ten. Salaì created paintings under the name of Andrea Salaì. He was described as one of Leonardo's students and lifelong companion and servant and was the model for Leonardo's St. John the Baptist, Bacchus, and Angelo incarnato. Salaì became a capable, although not very impressive, painter, who created several works, including the Monna Vanna, a nude version of the Mona Lisa which may be based on a charcoal sketch by Leonardo. He is also considered to be a potential creator of the Prado's copy of the Mona Lisa. Walter Isaacson, an author, says in his opinion Leonardo had a homosexual relationship with Salaì. Leonardo is thought to have used Salaì as the model for several of his works, specifically St. John the Baptist, Bacchus and Angelo Incarnato. It is commonly believed that upon Leonardo's death in 1519, Salaì inherited several paintings including the Mona Lisa. Through his estate, many of those works, notably the Mona Lisa, passed into the possession of Francis I of France. While Leonardo left all personal belongings, paintings, drawings and notes to Francesco Melzi in his will, it is unclear whether this included the Mona Lisa.

On 14 June 1523, at age 43, Salaì married Bianca Coldirodi d'Annono. Salaì died in 1524 as a result of a wound received from a crossbow in a duel and was buried in Milan on 10 March 1524.

Salaì's sexuality

A number of drawings among the works of Leonardo and his pupils make reference to Salaì's sexuality. There is a drawing modelled on Leonardo's painting John the Baptist and called The Angel Incarnate (Angelo incarnato), of a young man nude with an erect penis, and representing Salaì. The face of the figure is closer to Salaì's copy of Leonardo's painting John the Baptist, than to the original in the Louvre.

Leonardo‘s folio Codex Atlanticus includes two pages (132 and 133, verso) of drawings by a hand other than Leonardo's, one of which is a crudely drawn sketch depicting an anus, identified as "Salaì's bum", pursued by penises on legs.

Relationship to the Mona Lisa A group of Italian researchers has claimed that Salaì was the model for the Mona Lisa, noting the similarity in some of the facial features, particularly the nose and mouth, to those in which Salaì is thought to have been the model. The claims have been disputed by the Louvre.

In popular culture Films Films or TV series which are about the life of Leonardo or in which he appears as a character: The Life of Leonardo da Vinci (1972) interpreted by Bruno Piergentili Leonardo (2021) interpreted by Carlos Cuevas

Others Salaì is a principal character in the novel Cenacolo by Joseph Orbi. Paul McAuley's 1994 novel Pasquale's Angel is set in an alternate Italian Renaissance, Salaì is the main antagonist. DC Comics' 1995 Vertigo series Chiaroscuro: The Private Lives of Leonardo da Vinci (later published as a graphic novel) tells a speculative story of a love affair between Leonardo and Salaì. In a DLC of the 2010 video game Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Ezio (protagonist) interacts with Salaì when searching for Leonardo da Vinci. The game portrays Salaì as being Leonardo's lover and Ezio is aware of the relationship. He is supportive of it, telling Leonardo that he approves of his relationship. Giacomo is the main character in the novel Leonardo's Shadow by Christopher Grey. Salaì is the main character in the 1975 children's historical fiction novel The Second Mrs. Giaconda by E. L. Konigsburg. Salaì is a principal character with Leonardo in Mário Cláudio's 2014 Portuguese novel Retrato de Rapaz (Portrait of a Boy).