| Easily the most famous painting of all time, | | | | the portrait was Lisa Gherardini, young wife of a |
| Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is also one of the | | | | wealthy Florence silk merchant. |
| world's great mysteries. | | | | You're Mine, All Mine! |
| If you have read or seen The da Vinci Code (and | | | | Strangely, Leonardo, a commercial artist who paid |
| who hasn't?) then you have a taste of some of | | | | the bills by painting, decided to keep the Mona Lisa |
| the questions surrounding this masterpiece. | | | | for himself. Whoever commissioned the painting, if |
| But the truth is, this story doesn't need any | | | | anyone did, never receive it. |
| fictional embellishment. What is known - and | | | | Records show that Leonardo took the painting |
| unknown - about the painting is as interesting as | | | | with him as he traveled and "retouched" it over |
| any hack mystery could ever hope to be. | | | | and over until his death in 1519. |
| Fact is Stranger Than Fiction | | | | Great Art Lives On |
| First off, Mona Lisa is not the name of the | | | | After da Vinci's death, the King of France bought |
| painting. At least it is not the name given to it by | | | | the painting and it stayed in the royal family for |
| its painter, da Vinci. | | | | more than 200 years. During the French |
| He actually declined to give it a name upon | | | | Revolution the masterpiece was moved to its |
| completing it (the first time) in 1507, despite | | | | current home, The Louvre. |
| working on it (the first time) for over four years. | | | | Where it has remained...except for a time when |
| The name "Mona Lisa" - which means "Madam | | | | Napoleon "borrowed" it -- and hung it in his |
| Lisa" in Italian - was hung on it in 1550 by Painter | | | | bedroom! |
| Giorgio Vasari who guessed that the woman in | | | | |