Is there any merit to the idea that Leonardo da Vinci had an affair with Lisa del Giocondo (neé Gherardini), the model for the Mona Lisa?

Answer 1

Most historians believe that Leonardo was gay (or possibly bi-sexual). The Mona Lisa painting is often used to support this theory.

Freud even wrote a monograph on the subject, although it's rather speculative: Leonardo da Vinci - A Psychosexual Study of an Infantile Reminiscence.