Why mona lisa so famous

As a result, the Mona Lisa became a focal point for the contemplation of human nature and emotion. The question has been raised about whether or not the Mona Lisa was a real person. While many art historians attribute her identity to Lisa Gherardini , wife of wealthy Florentine merchant Francesco del Giocondo, other scholars have disputed this claim due to the lack of conclusive evidence for this alleged commission. Because the Mona Lisa has never really been identified with definitive clarity, admirers of the painting have projected their own versions of her identity onto her.

For example, writers from the French Romantic period of the late 18th century came to idealize the woman of the Mona Lisa as a romantic femme fatal figure. As a result, the woman of the Mona Lisa has developed an air of timeless allure, frequently represented and understood as a universal object of elusive female desire and mystery.

Leonardo da Vinco painted his famous portrait from to , and gave it the dimensions of 77cm by 53cm. The Mona Lisa has also been so highly celebrated because of the location in which the painting is displayed. The painting is exhibited in its own private room in the famous Louvre museum in Paris, France. The allocation of such a privileged position in one of the most respected and visited museums in the world has made the Mona Lisa a popular French tourist destination.

But how exactly did the Mona Lisa end up in France? The Mona Lisa remained a possession of the French monarchy for centuries until ownership was taken over by the French public during the French Revolution at the end of the 18th century. Peruggia admitted that he had simply lifted the masterpiece from the four hooks upon which it hung, stuck it under his workman's tunic, and just walked out the door of the Louvre.

The Mona Lisa was found tucked safely away in Peruggia's apartments, just a few blocks from the museum. Peruggia said he stole the painting because it belonged in an Italian museum rather than a French one. There were also rumors he had taken it so that a forger could make copies of it to sell on the black market.

Once the Mona Lisa was returned to the Louvre, the French turned out in droves to see her, and soon, so did people from all over the globe. The small, simple painting of a maybe-smiling woman had become an overnight sensation, and was the most famous work of art in the world. Since the theft, the Mona Lisa has been the target of other activities. In , someone threw acid on the painting, and in another attack the same year, a rock was thrown at it, causing a small bit of damage at the subject's left elbow.

In , a Russian tourist flung a terra cotta mug at the painting; no damage was done, because Mona Lisa has been behind bulletproof glass for several decades. The Mona Lisa has influenced countless painters, from Leonardo's contemporaries to today's modern artists. In the centuries since her creation, the Mona Lisa has been copied thousands of times over by artists around the world.

Marcel Duchamp took a postcard of Mona Lisa and added a mustache and a goatee. Other modern masters like Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali painted their own versions of her, and artists have painted her in every conceivable manner, including as a dinosaur, a unicorn, one of Saturday Night Live 's Coneheads, and wearing sunglasses and Mickey Mouse ears.

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It is believed to be a portrait of Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Florentine nobleman Francesco Giocondo. It uses oil paints on a poplar panel, and uses unique and almost-unrepeatable art techniques pioneered and perfected by Leonardo Da Vinci. It was acquired by King Francis! However, Italian thief Vincenzo Peruggia, who believed that the Mona Lisa rightfully belonged to Italy and the Italian people, stole her in After hiding the painting in his apartment for 2 years, authorities finally recovered the painting when Vincenzo tried to sell it to an art gallery in Firenze.

After her recovery, the Mona Lisa was placed behind bulletproof glass to protect her from vandals and would-be thieves. In the 21 st century, modern security measures have been implemented, with Mona Lisa being contained in a temperature and humidity controlled glass case, protected by 24 hour security, lasers, and CCTV.

It was a technique pioneered by Leonardo Da Vinci, and while, ironically, the effect is not present in the Mona Lisa, but is only one of the techniques he applied, perfected, and showcased in La Gioconda.