The Mona Lisa (/ˌmoʊnə ˈliːsə/; Italian: Gioconda [dʒoˈkonda] or Monna Lisa [ˈmɔnna ˈliːza]; French: Joconde [ʒɔkɔ̃d]) is a half-length portrait painting by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance,[4][5] it has been described as “the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world”.[6] The painting’s novel qualities include the subject’s enigmatic expression,[7] the monumentality of the composition, the subtle modelling of forms, and the atmospheric illusionism.[8]
The painting has been definitively identified to depict Italian noblewoman Lisa Gherardini,[9] the wife of Francesco del Giocondo. It is painted in oil on a white Lombardy poplar panel. Leonardo never gave the painting to the Giocondo family, and later it is believed he left it in his will to his favored apprentice Salaì.[10] It had been believed to have been painted between 1503 and 1506; however, 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. It has been on permanent display at the Louvre in Paris since 1797.[11]
The Mona Lisa is one of the most valuable paintings in the world. It holds the Guinness World Record for the highest-known painting insurance valuation in history at US$100 million in 1962[12] (equivalent to $870 million in 2021).
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