Mona Lisa is probably one of Leonardo da Vinci’s one of the most iconic works. This half-length portrait painting is undoubtedly one of the most visited and talked about work of art. But, do you know these 15 bizarre yet interesting facts about this painting? Scroll down and discover!
1. Leonardo da Vinci painted ‘Mona Lisa‘ by using oil paint on a poplar wood panel in such a way that it left no visible brush marks.
2. The painting is more than 500 years old and is one of the most ancient artworks in the world.
4. Leonardo Vinci painted the portrait with the help of the thirty layers of different shades. Some layers were thin while others were slightly thick.
5. The famous painter Pablo Picasso was once suspected to steal ‘Mona Lisa‘ and was even brought in for questioning by the authorities.
6. At the time of World War II, ‘Mona Lisa‘ was dislocated from its place 6 times so as to keep it out of the hands of the Nazis.
7. A face recognition software once claimed that the portrait of ‘Mona Lisa‘ is 83% happy, 9% disgusted, 6% fearful and 2% angry.
8. People claim that ‘Mona Lisa‘ is a female representation of Da Vinci himself. However, the most popular theory about the painting states that it is the portrait of Lisa Gherardini, an Italian noblewoman from Florence.
9. The original name of the painting was ‘Monna Lisa’ as ‘Monna’ in Italian means ‘Our Lady’. However, because of a spelling error, it was titled as ‘Mona Lisa’.
10. Leonardo da Vinci never completed the portrait though. When he died in 1519, it was one of many unfinished works left to his assistant.
11. Napolean once had ‘Mona Lisa’ hung in his bedroom in the Tuileries Palace for four years and it was his fascination with the painting that made him fall in love with an Italian woman named Teresa Guadagni who was the descendant of Lisa Gherardini.
12. In 1852, an artist named Luc Maspero who was fascinated by the smile and charm of ‘Mona Lisa’, threw himself from the fourth floor of a Parisian hotel, leaving a suicide note that revealed his immense love and years of wait for her.
13. ‘Mona Lisa‘ was attacked twice, once by Ugo Ungaza Villegas by a rock and then by a lovesick guy who threw acid at the portrait because he couldn’t win it.
14. On August 21, 1911, the ‘Mona Lisa‘ was stolen and the entire Paris city moaned by assembling in front of the Musee du Louvre.
15. The net worth of ‘Mona Lisa’ is $700 million without any kind of insurance.
16. Currently located at the Musee du Louvre in Paris, France, ‘Mona Lisa’ has a room of its own where it is on permanent display since 1797.
The enigmatic expression of ‘Mona Lisa’ which seems both alluring and aloof at the same time has developed a hard to express affection for her amongst the masses.
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