Italian artist (1480?1524)
Salai
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Born
| Gian Giacomo Caprotti da Oreno
1480
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Died
| 19 January 1524 (aged 43–44)
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Nationality
| Italian
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Notable work
| Monna Vanna
,
Penitent Magdalene
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Movement
| High Renaissance
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Spouse
|
Bianca Coldirodi d'Annono
(
m.
)
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Patron(s)
| Leonardo da Vinci
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Gian Giacomo Caprotti da Oreno
, better known as
Salai
[a]
(1480 ? 19 January 1524) was an
Italian
artist and pupil of
Leonardo da Vinci
from 1490 to 1518. Salai entered Leonardo's household at the age of ten. He created paintings under the name of
Andrea Salai
. 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
.
[1]
Early life
[
edit
]
Salai was born in 1480 as son of Pietro di Giovanni, a tenant of Leonardo's vineyard near the Porta Vercellina,
Milan
.
[2]
He joined Leonardo's household at the age of ten as an assistant.
Giorgio Vasari
describes Salai as "a graceful and beautiful youth with curly hair, in which Leonardo greatly delighted".
[2]
Although Leonardo described him as "a liar, a thief, stubborn, and a glutton" and he stole from Leonardo on at least five occasions, he kept Salai in his household for more than 25 years, in which Salai trained as an artist.
[2]
Salai became a capable, although not very impressive, painter,
[3]
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.
[4]
[5]
He is also considered one potential creator of
the Prado's copy of the
Mona Lisa
.
[6]
Leonardo is thought to have used Salai as the model for several of his works, specifically
St. John the Baptist
,
Bacchus
and
Angelo Incarnato
.
[1]
[6]
Some researchers also believe that Salai ? and not
Lisa del Giocondo
? was the real model for the
Mona Lisa
, but
this claim
is disputed by the Louvre.
[6]
During Leonardo's second stay in Milan, he took another young pupil,
Francesco Melzi
. Unlike Salai, Francesco was a son of a nobleman. When Leonardo traveled to
Rome
in 1513 and to
France
in 1516, Salai and Melzi both accompanied him. As an adult, Melzi became secretary and main assistant of Leonardo, and undertook to prepare Leonardo's writings for publication. Vasari wrote that Melzi "at the time of Leonardo was a very beautiful and very much loved young man".
[
citation needed
]
In France, Francesco Melzi was greeted as "Italian gentleman living with master Leonardo" and granted donation of 400 ecus, while Salai, 36 years old, was described as "servant" and granted a one time donation of 100 ecus.
[
citation needed
]
Salai left France, and Leonardo, in 1518. He later returned to Milan to work on Leonardo's vineyard, previously worked by Salai's father, half of which was granted to him in Leonardo's will.
[7]
It is commonly believed that upon Leonardo's death in 1519, Salai 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
.
[8]
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
.
[9]
On 14 June 1523, at age 43, Salai married Bianca Coldirodi d'Annono.
[10]
Salai died in 1524 as a result of a wound received from a
crossbow
in a duel
[11]
and was buried in Milan on 10 March 1524.
[12]
Salai's sexuality
[
edit
]
A number of drawings among the works of Leonardo and his pupils make reference to Salai'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 phallus, and representing Salai.
[1]
It is accepted as by Leonardo's hand.
[13]
The face of the figure is closer to Salai'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 "Salai's bum", pursued by penises on legs.
[14]
[15]
[2]
Relationship to the
Mona Lisa
[
edit
]
A group of Italian researchers has claimed that Salai 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 Salai is thought to have been the model. These claims have been disputed by the
Louvre
.
[16]
In popular culture
[
edit
]
Films
[
edit
]
Films or
TV Series
which are about the life of Leonardo or in which he appears as a character:
Others
[
edit
]
- Salai is a principal character in the novel
Cenacolo
[17]
by Joseph Orbi.
- In
Paul McAuley's
1994 novel
Pasquale's Angel
set in an alternate Italian Renaissance, Salai 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 Salai.
- In a DLC of the 2010 video game
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
, Ezio (protagonist) interacts with Salai when searching for Leonardo da Vinci. The game portrays Salai as Leonardo's lover, and that 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
[18]
- Salai is the main character in the 1975 children's historical fiction novel
The Second Mrs. Giaconda
by
E. L. Konigsburg
.
- Salai is a principal character with Leonardo in Mario Claudio's 2014 Portuguese novel
Retrato de Rapaz
(
Portrait of a Boy
).
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Salai
is a contracted form of
Saladino
(
Saladin
).
Leonardo da Vinci
referred to Gian Giacomo by that nickname ? since he was a child ? as a joke, because he had a terrible temperament: As
dangerous as the
Saladin
. As an infidel (because Saladin was not Catholic), and therefore by extension as a demon, or a "little devil".
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
Pedretti, Carlo (2009).
Leonardo da Vinci : l'Angelo incarnato & Salai = the Angel in the flesh & Salai
(in English and Italian). Margherita Melani, Daniel Arasse, da Vinci Leonardo. Foligno (Perugia): Cartei & Bianchi. p. 201.
ISBN
978-88-95686-11-0
.
OCLC
500794484
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Stern, Keith (September 2009).
Queers in History: The comprehensive encyclopedia of historical gays, lesbians, and bisexuals
. BenBella Books. p. 276.
ISBN
978-1-933771-87-8
– via Google Books.
- ^
Hall, M.C. (September 2007).
Leonardo da Vinci
. ABDO Publishing Company. p. 53.
ISBN
978-1-59928-844-4
– via Google Books.
- ^
"Expert: Da Vinci painted nude Mona Lisa"
.
UPI News
.
United Press International
. 16 November 2009
. Retrieved
22 March
2011
.
- ^
"
'Mona Lisa nude sketch' found in France"
.
BBC News
. 28 September 2017
. Retrieved
29 September
2017
.
- ^
a
b
c
Waters, Florence (6 March 2012).
"Mona Lisa copy may have been painted by Leonardo da Vinci's lover, art historians suggest"
.
The Daily Telegraph
. Retrieved
29 September
2017
.
- ^
Rui, Andrea (7 March 2016).
Santa Maria delle Grazie
(PDF)
(e?book) (in Italian). p. 6.
ISBN
9788892563704
. Retrieved
8 October
2022
– via Libreria Universitaria (unilibro).
URL access = one-time payment.
- ^
Zollner, Frank (May 2000).
Leonardo da Vinci, 1452?1519
.
Taschen
. p. 94.
ISBN
3-8228-5979-6
– via Google Books.
- ^
Capra, Fritjof (30 October 2007).
The Science of Leonardo: Inside the mind of the great genius of the Renaissance
. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p.
13
.
ISBN
9780385524117
– via Internet Archive (archive.org).
- ^
Farago, Claire J., ed. (1999).
Leonardo's Art: Twentieth-century connoisseurship and iconographic studies
. Leonardo's Projects from 1500?1519. Vol. 3. Taylor and Francis. p. 397.
- ^
Judah, Hettie (7 November 2019).
"The men who Leonardo da Vinci loved"
.
BBC News
.
- ^
da Vinci, Leonardo
(1999). Farago, Claire J. (ed.).
Leonardo da Vinci, Selected Scholarship: Leonardo's projects, c. 1500?1519
.
Taylor & Francis
. p. 397.
ISBN
9780815329350
– via Google Books.
- ^
Nicholl, Charles. (2004). Leonardo da Vinci : flights of the mind. New York, N.Y., U.S.A. :Viking Penguin, page 602
- ^
da Vinci, Leonardo.
"Codex Atlanticus"
.
codex-atlanticus.it
(in English and Italian). The Visual Agency. p. 132 verso
. Retrieved
4 July
2022
.
- ^
da Vinci, Leonardo.
"Codex Atlanticus"
.
codex-atlanticus.it
(in English and Italian). The Visual Agency. p. 133 verso
. Retrieved
4 July
2022
.
- ^
"Mona Lisa model was male, researchers say"
.
ABC
News. 3 February 2011
. Retrieved
22 March
2011
.
- ^
Orbi, Joseph (12 May 2010).
Cenacolo: Novel
. I.O. Twomey.
ISBN
9780966161984
.
- ^
Grey, Christopher (4 March 2008).
Leonardo's Shadow
. Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books.
ISBN
9781416905448
.
External links
[
edit
]
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Major works
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Lost works
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Sculptures
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Works on paper
| Studies for the
Virgin of the Rocks
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Studies for the
Last Supper
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Studies for the Louvre
Saint Anne
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Manuscripts
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Other projects
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Leonardeschi
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Museums
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Related
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- ? Collaboration
- ?? Possible collaboration
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International
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National
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Artists
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People
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