Mona Lisa

It took Leonardo da Vinci 15 years to finish the famous Mona Lisa, which is treasured at the Louvre in Paris. The model for Mona Lisa was Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco Del Giocondo, who had commissioned the painting to celebrate their new house, and the birth of their second son, Andrea. That is why it is also known as Lisa del Giocondo, or simply La Gioconda (the Happy one.) Leonardo started to work on his masterpiece in 1504, and worked on it on and off, finishing it in 1519. Francois I, the King of France bought it, and it passed from one King to another. It even spent some time in Napoleon’s bedroom.  On 21 August 1911, the painting was stolen from the Louvre by an Italian Vincenzo Peruggia, and was found 2 years later. He even tried to sell it to the Uffizi gallery in Florence. In 1956 acid was thrown at the painting and a rock was also thrown at it. Thereafter a bullet-proof glass protected it ever since, and subsequent attacks with red paint and a teacup bought from the Louvre did not cause any damage. In 1963 it was exhibited in the USA, in the National Gallery of Art. At that time, it was valued at $100 million, but in 2015, its value rose to $782 million, the most valued painting in the world.