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.
Also recorded as Gian Giacomo Caprotti da Oreno · Andrea Salai · Andrea Salario · Salaj
Salaì

Circle of Leonardo da Vinci · School of Leonardo da Vinci · Public domain
- Born
- 1480. · Oreno.
- Died
- 1524. · Milan.
- Occupation
- painter and inventor.
- Fields
- history and portrait.
- Movements
- High Renaissance.
- Teachers
- Leonardo da Vinci.
- Known for
- Nude Mona Lisa.
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Documentary summary
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.
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Note VALÉORINE
Salaì (1480–1524) was an inventor and painter. The inventor was born in Oreno and died in Milan.
Salaì worked in Milan and Rome. The inventor was associated with High Renaissance.
Among the works is Nude Mona Lisa. The work spans history, history painting and portrait. Works are held at Hammer Museum, Nationalmuseum and Pinacoteca Ambrosiana.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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- Identity
- resolved
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Authority files
getty · 500115891 · gnd · 1212381181 · wikidata · Q954126 · wikipedia · Salaì
In this article
Early life
Early life
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.
Training under Leonardo da Vinci is recorded. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are history and portrait. Places of work recorded in the authority are Rome and Milan. Works named in the authority record are Nude Mona Lisa. Work by Salaì is recorded in the collections of Nationalmuseum, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana and Hammer Museum.
Salaì was born in 1480 as son of Pietro di Giovanni, a tenant of Leonardo's vineyard near the Porta Vercellina, Milan. Salaì joined Leonardo's household at the age of ten as an assistant. Giorgio Vasari describes Salaì as "a graceful and beautiful youth with curly hair, in which Leonardo greatly delighted". 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 Salaì in his household for more than 25 years, in which Salaì trained as an artist. 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. Some researchers also believe that Salaì–and not Lisa del Giocondo–was the real model for the Mona Lisa, but this claim is disputed by the Louvre. During Leonardo's second stay in Milan, he took another young pupil, Francesco Melzi. Unlike Salaì, Francesco was a son of a nobleman. When Leonardo traveled to Rome in 1513 and to France in 1516, Salaì 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". In France, Francesco Melzi was greeted as "Italian gentleman living with master Leonardo" and granted donation of 400 ecus, while Salaì, 36 years old, was described as "servant" and granted a one time donation of 100 ecus. Salaì left France and Leonardo, in 1518. Salaì later returned to Milan to work on Leonardo's vineyard, previously worked by Salaì's father, half of which was granted to him in Leonardo's will. 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
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. It is accepted as by Leonardo's hand. 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
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.
Others
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).
Testa di giovane in profilo
Leonardo da Vinci · A.E.Popham "The Drawings of Leonardo"
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1480
Salaì born at Oreno.
1524
Salaì died at Milan.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Oreno.
Birth place
Milan.
Death place
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
Primary material
Documents and archives
authority file
- Getty Union List of Artist Names 500115891, Salai, Andrea.
Unverified · The Getty Research Institute
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q954126: Salaì
Unverified · Wikidata
reference work
- “Salaì”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Stern, Keith. Queers in History: The comprehensive encyclopedia of historical gays, lesbians, and bisexuals. BenBella Books. 276. September 2009. 978-1-933771-87-8.
- 2.Hall, M.C. Leonardo da Vinci. ABDO Publishing Company. 53. September 2007. 978-1-59928-844-4.
- 3.Expert: Da Vinci painted nude Mona Lisa. UPI News. United Press International. 16 November 2009.
- 4.'Mona Lisa nude sketch' found in France. BBC News. 2017-09-28.
- 5.Waters, Florence. Mona Lisa copy may have been painted by Leonardo da Vinci's lover, art historians suggest. The Daily Telegraph. 2012-03-06.
- 6.Isaacson, Walter. Leonardo da Vinci. Simon & Schuster. 2017. 978-1-5011-3915-4.
- 7.Rui, Andrea. Santa Maria delle Grazie. 6. 2016-03-07. 9788892563704.
- 8.Zöllner, Frank. Leonardo da Vinci, 1452–1519. Taschen. 94. May 2000. 3-8228-5979-6.
- 9.Capra, Fritjof. The Science of Leonardo: Inside the mind of the great genius of the Renaissance. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. 13. 2007-10-30. 9780385524117.
- 10.Farago, Claire J. Leonardo's Art: Twentieth-century connoisseurship and iconographic studies. Taylor and Francis. 3. 397. 1999.
- 11.Judah, Hettie. The men who Leonardo da Vinci loved. BBC News. 7 November 2019.
- 12.da Vinci, Leonardo. Leonardo da Vinci, Selected Scholarship: Leonardo's projects, c. 1500–1519. Taylor & Francis. 397. 1999. 9780815329350.
- 13.Pedretti, Carlo. Leonardo da Vinci : l'Angelo incarnato & Salai = the Angel in the flesh & Salai. Cartei & Bianchi. 201. 2009. 978-88-95686-11-0.
- 14.Nicholl, Charles. (2004). Leonardo da Vinci : flights of the mind. New York, N.Y., U.S.A. :Viking Penguin, page 602
- 15.da Vinci, Leonardo. Codex Atlanticus. codex-atlanticus.it. The Visual Agency. 132 verso.
- 16.da Vinci, Leonardo. Codex Atlanticus. codex-atlanticus.it. The Visual Agency. 133 verso.
- 17.Cartei & Bianchi. Leonardo da Vinci: l'Angelo incarnato & Salai = the Angel in the flesh & Salai. 201. 2009. 978-88-95686-11-0.
- 18.ABC News. Mona Lisa model was male, researchers say. February 3, 2011.
- 19.Orbi, Joseph. Cenacolo: Novel. I.O. Twomey. 2010-05-12. 9780966161984.
- 20.Grey, Christopher. Leonardo's Shadow. Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books. 2008-03-04. 9781416905448.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
authority file
Getty Union List of Artist Names 500115891, Salai, Andrea.The Getty Research Institute
Partially resolvedauthority record
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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