The Mona Lisa model was male?

Misfit · Post by **Misfit** » Wed February 2nd, 2011, 6:04 pm

Hmmmm. What say the rest of you?

chuck · Post by **chuck** » Wed February 2nd, 2011, 6:57 pm

If this is true....It's probably not the first time......

LoveHistory · Post by **LoveHistory** » Wed February 2nd, 2011, 8:45 pm

I don't buy it. I think the guy is just trying to get attention.

Madeleine · Post by **Madeleine** » Thu February 3rd, 2011, 3:27 pm

[quote=""chuck""]If this is true....It's probably not the first time......[/quote]

No it's not the first time, in fact it's been rumoured that Mona is a self-portrait of the artist!

fljustice · Post by **fljustice** » Thu February 3rd, 2011, 4:41 pm

I love it that he found the letters S and L in her eyes and the number 72 under the arch. I'm not saying artists don't include symbols and words in their work, but we're a pattern seeking species and see symbols and faces everywhere. How many religious images have been found on grilled cheese sandwiches and in patches of mold?

EC2 · Post by **EC2** » Fri February 4th, 2011, 6:11 pm

I have no idea, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least. You look at many Renaissance nude 'women' and they're obviously based on men. I don't think anyone would have made that big a deal of it at the time. I have no opinion either way, but I think it's totally possible.

anne whitfield · Post by **anne whitfield** » Sat February 5th, 2011, 8:52 pm

If it is true, and how will we ever know? Then it makes me giggle at all the 'men' who, over the centuries, said she was the model of a perfect woman!

chuck · Post by **chuck** » Sat February 5th, 2011, 11:29 pm

It's those eyes and that come hither smile......

chuck · Post by **chuck** » Sun February 6th, 2011, 12:23 am

Nat King Cole had a huge and famous hit with the song "Mona Lisa"....You can check it out on YouTube....Great lyrics...

MLE (Emily Cotton) · Post by **MLE (Emily Cotton)** » Sun February 6th, 2011, 4:56 am

[quote=""EC2""]I have no idea, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least. You look at many Renaissance nude 'women' and they're obviously based on men. I don't think anyone would have made that big a deal of it at the time. I have no opinion either way, but I think it's totally possible.[/quote]

I don't know that I would go so far as to say that. In the course of working for college housing, military life, and running a transition home for women and children, I've seen a lot of women in the buff. Some, to their great regret, are at the far end of the statistical bell-curve on female physical attributes. Just like some men have hips as wide as a woman (I know one) some women come out rather masculine shaped. From one era to the next, the ideal of beauty shifts.

Oh that Reuben's concept of feminine beauty was back in style! (Except regardless of the fashion, my protesting knees and ankles want me to remove another twenty pounds.

)