Art historian says Mona Lisa model was a man

Silvano Vinceti, the president of Italy’s National Committee for Cultural Heritage, believes that the model for Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa was a young man named Gian Giacomo Caprotti, also known as Salai.

“Salai was a favorite model for Leonardo,” Vinceti said to the Daily Mail. “Leonardo certainly inserted characteristics of Salai in the last version of the Mona Lisa.”

Vinceti also says that by using state-of-the-art magnification techniques he has found an “S” in Mona Lisa’s eyes, which he says may be a reference to Salai.

Salai is believed to have been the model for some of Da Vinci’s other works, including his famed portrait of St. John the Baptist. Although most art historians believe that the model for Mona Lisa was a 24-year-old named Lisa Gheradini, Vincetti insists that Salai was at least partly the inspiration for what is arguably the world’s most famous painting.

Da Vinci experts are unimpressed with Vincetti’s research. Pietro Marini, an art professor at Milan’s Politecnico University, calls the theory “groundless.”

“The work began as the portrait of Lisa Gherardini, but over the years it slowly turned into something else; an idealized portrait, not a specific one,” he tells the Daily Mail. “That’s also why you have this fascinating face that transcends time and transcends a specific person, and why all these theories keep piling up.”

By :Will Rahn - The Daily Caller

Grocery Rings !

Curious, Funny Photos / Pictures

Exoplanet Bonanza Boosts Count by 1,200 : Discovery News

Exoplanet Bonanza Boosts Count by 1,200 : Discovery News

Midweek Fashion Gossip

ANTM Cycle 16 Cast - Credit: The CW
- Taking over from Britney Spears, High School Musical actress Vanessa Hudgens is now the new face of Candies. cont.

- Kelly Osbourne is making waves in the fashion world with her new look and style, with that she has landed the gig to be the new face of Material Girl by Madonna and daughter Lourdes. cont.

- The lookbook for White by Vera Wang at David

What's a girl to do?

Okay, so two + E.R. visits later and lots of meds, both girls are FINALLY on the mend.  Okay, so what's a mom to do with extra time at home?  Why, paint a few walls!!!  Hope to reveal what we've been up to soon.  Just a hint...one involves our downstairs bathroom, the other our front entry.  Oh, and the girls have daddy wrapped around their fingers...he's out for a Mickey D's run for the youngest!!! LOL  Migraines call for MAJOR french fries!!!  Thanks for all the well wishes.

Best of Intentions~

While hubby and I planned to work on clearing out the clutter in the basement this past weekend, the beautiful weather on Saturday (75 degrees and pure sunshine) derailed that game plan!  We spent the day downtown shopping.  Let's just say we paid IKEA and West Elm a little visit.

Sunday found us a church with plans to work on the basement after lunch.  That didn't happen either.  Enter a frantic phone call from our oldest child, barely recognizable for the sobs.  She was suffering an asthma/panic attack/migraine due to sinus congestion and a friend was taking her to the ER. So, we spent the day with her there.  She is doing much better. 

Fast forward a day...little sister is still trying to shake off another migraine.  Guess where we were today...yup, yet another ER!!  She is doing much better thanks to the IV med protocal.  Hopefully she will be back to school tomorrow. 

I  am hoping to get back to several projects I had to put on hold.  One involves a mini-makeover using this...

Here's hoping we are all back to our "normal" routine tomorrow!

Photos released to protect threatened Amazonians

BRASILIA (AFP) – Brazil has allowed the release of rare photographs of an uncontacted Amazonian tribe to bring attention to the plight of indigenous people who rights groups say are faced with possible annihilation.

The astonishing images, showing curious adults and children peering skyward with their faces dyed reddish-orange and toting bows, arrows and spears, were taken by Brazil's National Indian Foundation (FUNAI).

Rights group Survival International, which accompanied the government agency on the overflight near the Brazil-Peru border, said their baskets were full of papaya and manioc grown in a communal garden.

"Illegal loggers will destroy this indigenous people. It is essential that the Peruvian government stop them before it is too late," warned Survival's director Stephen Corry.

FUNAI has released similar photographs in the past and acknowledged that Peruvian loggers are sending some indigenous people fleeing across the border to less-affected rainforests in Brazil.

The coordinator of Brazil's Amazon Indian organization COIAB, Marcos Apurina, said he hoped the images would draw attention to the plight of the indigenous peoples and encourage their protection.

"It is necessary to reaffirm that these peoples exist, so we support the use of images that prove these facts. These peoples have had their most fundamental rights, particularly their right to life, ignored -- it is therefore crucial that we protect them," he said.

FUNAI says there are 67 tribes in Brazil that do not have sustained contact with the outside world. Some are often referred to as "uncontacted" tribes even though they have some kind of, albeit limited, contacts.

A year ago, rights groups sent a letter to then president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva voicing concern that the very survival of indigenous groups was under threat.

Brazil's latest census counted more than 500,000 indigenous people among more than 190 million Brazilians. Millions in the country, however, have some indigenous ancestry.

Most indigenous people in the Americas descend from Asian people who crossed a land bridge from Siberia, an estimated 13,000-17,000 years ago. One notable exception: the indigenous people on Chile's Easter island, in the Pacific, are ethnic (Rapa Nui) Polynesians.