Gian Giacomo Caprotti da Oreno, better known as Salaì (1480 – 1524),

• Was an Italian artist and pupil of Leonardo da Vinci from 1490 to 1518.
• Salaì was born in 1480 as son of Pietro di Giovanni, a tenant of Leonardo's vineyard near the Porta Vercellina, Milan.
• Salaì entered Leonardo's household at the age of ten.
• He created paintings under the name of Andrea Salaì.
• He was described as one of Leonardo's students and lifelong servant.
• 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 him in his household for more than 25 years, in which he trained as an artist.
• Salaì 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 one potential creator of the Prado's copy of the Mona Lisa.
• Leonardo is thought to have used Salaì as the model for several of his works, specifically St. John the Baptist and Bacchus.
• 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.
• 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.
• Salaì married Bianca Coldirodi d'Annono on June 14, 1523, at the age of 43.
• 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.
• Next