The Mona Lisa  or La Gioconda  is a half -length portrait of a woman by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci ,which has been acclaimed as ‘the best known,the most visited ,the most written about ,the most sung about,the most parodied work of art in the world.’

The painting ,thought to be a portrait  of Lisa Gherardini,the wife of Francesco Giocondo,is in oil and is believed to have been painted between 1503 and 1506,although Leonardo may have continued working on it as late as 1517.It was acquired by King Francis I of France and is now the property of the French Republic ,on permanent display at The Louvre museum in Paris since 1797.

The Louvre museum in Paris

The ambiguity of the woman’s expression,which is frequently described as enigmatic,the monumentality of the composition,the subtle modeling of forms and the atmospheric illusionism were novel qualities that have contributed to the continuing fascination and study of  this painting.

 by Anastasiou Katerina

Class B-Advanced