Mona Lisa

The most famous painting in the world is undoubtedly Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, also known as "La Gioconda."

The picture was purchased by French King Francis I and was placed in the Louvre museum in Paris. Now it is behind thick glass to protect it from vandalism.

Applying paint in thin layers that almost make the painting glow, Leonardo somehow captured the character of his subject, Lisa del Giocondo, the wife of a Florentine businessman.

Her smile is the most intriguing part of the painting. It is one of the only smiles in the history of art to be described as "mysterious." Is it a fleeting smile captured by the artist, or a knowing, timeless, symbolic smile?

And the haunting, subtle smile is not something that Da Vinci accidentally captured on his canvas. He wanted it there. And to make sure it wouldn't fade, he had beautiful music played during the sittings.

Leonardo Da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa on a piece of pine wood in the year 1506.

Never in the history of Art has one painting been so admired. This is due largely to the enigmatic smile, which has caused much speculation. He recorded in his notebooks the records of model sittings; but nowhere can be found any records of the Mona Lisa model sitting. Why is that? Who posed for him? Dr. Lillian Schwartz of Bell Labs suggests that Leonardo painted himself, and was able to support her theory by analyzing the facial features of Leonardo's face and that of the famous painting, She digitized both the self-portrait of the artist and the Mona Lisa. She flipped the self portrait and merged the two images together using a computer. She noticed the features of the face aligned perfectly! You may draw your own conclusion. Please leave feedback in our guestbook.

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