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Mona Lisa was the wife of a Florentine merchant, Francesco di Bartolommeo di Zanobi del Giocondo. The
other name for this famous painting is La Gioconda. Lisa di Antonio Maria di Noldo Gherardini was 24 years old
at the time and her husband ordered the portrait of her which Leonardo began painting in 1503.
Leonardo worked on this painting for four years and ended up not returning it to Giocondo. Some say he kept it because it was unfinished and others just believed that he liked it so much he couldn't part with it. Leonardo took the painting in his baggage to France in 1516. He then sold the painting to King Francis I. In time the Mona Lisa came to Fontainbleau, Paris, Versailles and then to the collection of Ludwig XIV. |
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After the revolution
in France the painting was placed in Louvre. Napolean got a hold of it for a few years but as soon as he was banished the
painting returned into the great Louvre in Paris.
On August 21, 1911, an Italian stole the painting and brought it to Italy where it emerged two years later in Florence. After
some exhibitions there Mona Lisa returned again to Paris.
Acid damaged the lower half of the painting and it took a while for it to be restored. Now "the painting is behind bullet-proof glass in Paris in the Louvre and international terms are prohibiting any journey." |
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By April Mitchell