This was a graduate student "discovery" of many years ago: said
student superimposed the supposed self-portrait of LdaV over the face of ML
and voila!  A perfect fit!  Of course that would work with just about any
face, plus the self-portrait is, now at least, no longer universally
accepted as being either by or of LdaV.
        By the way, scholars know an awful lot about ML: she was a real
person, she is shown after the birth of her second child (the first had
died very young), she was the second wife of Mr. Giocondo
(giocondo-jocund-smile), and she lived to be a very old lady.  And, she's
still mysterious.

Adrienne DeAngelis

>In a message dated 01-02-21 13:13:10 EST, Indigo Nights wrote:
>
><< Well, it bears noting that, the last time I took an
> Art History course (back in 1991), the prevailing
> understanding of the day that the woman known as Mona
> Lisa was really a man--the artist Leonardo (the
> narcisist) himself! >>
>
>I'm aware of this theory, but I think it's a stretch to say that it was ever
>the prevailing opinion.  I'd be interested in any citations which support
>that claim.
>
>David Haberstich
>
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