Mona Lisa theory no. 748
April 21 2016
Picture: Louvre
The Italian 'art detective' Silvano Vinceti (past claims include finding Caravaggio's remains) has been in the news again - this time saying that the Mona Lisa is in fact Leonardo's gay lover, Salai. It's not actually a new idea, and in fact Vinceti has already tried this exact story before, in 2011. Such is the media's demand for any story connected to the Mona Lisa that nowadays you can just get away with recycling any old theory. This time around it's chiefly of note for producing one of the best art historical put downs I've yet seen, from the Leonardo scholar Prof. Martin Kemp, who told The Telegraph:
“This is a mish-mash of known things, semi-known things and complete fantasy”.