Leonardo da Vinci: Mona Lisa (1503-1517)

(Musée du Louvre, Paris, France)

Perhaps the best known painting in the world. The painting is a standard portrait of Lisa del Giocondo, wife of Francesco del Giocondo - a merchant and local official from Florence. Researchers believe that the portrait was commissioned by the couple for their new home and the birth of their second son. The lady sits in an open loggia, the background is a random landscape. Like so many other work from Leonardo, this painting itself was also never finished. King Francis I of France bought the painting after the death of Leonardo da Vinci in 1519. Painting from 1503-1517