Who is Mona Lisa? Why the legendary Louvre painting is so famous

The Mona Lisa has been on display in the Louvre for centuries (Picture: Martin BUREAU/AFP)

The Mona Lisa has received increased attention this weekend – for all the wrong reasons.

The masterpiece has been covered in soup by climate activists at the Louvre in Paris, France this morning – as the protestors demand the right to ‘healthy and sustainable food’.

But who painted the Mona Lisa, and why is it so famous? Metro.co.uk has all the answers.

Who painted the Mona Lisa?

The Mona Lisa was painted by Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci in the early 1500s.

It’s a half-length portrait painting and it’s considered ‘the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, and the most parodied work of art in the world’.

The piece was believed to have been painted between 1503 and 1506, but it’s possible that da Vinci could have kept working on it until as late as 1517.

Who is Mona Lisa? The Mona Lisa has captured the imagination of generations (Picture: Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

The Mona Lisa is believed to depict the Italian noblewoman Lisa del Giocondo.

It is painted in oil on a white Lombardy poplar panel.

The piece was never given to the Giocondo family by da Vinci, and it’s believed he left it in his will to Salai, his favourite apprentice.

It was acquired by King Francis I of France and his been on permanent display at the Louvre in Paris since 1797.

How much is the Mona Lisa worth?

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.

The valuation was $100 million (£78 million) in 1962, which is equivalent to $1 billion (£786 million) in today’s money.

How big is the Mona Lisa?

For such a well-loved painting, the Mona Lisa is surprisingly fairly small at just 77cm tall by 53cm wide – that’s 30in tall by 21in wide.

It’s a fairly common reaction for people seeing the Mona Lisa for the first time to say they imagined it to be much bigger.

Has the Mona Lisa been attacked before?

This isn’t the first time the Mona Lisa has been targeted by climate activists – in May 2022, someone attempted to deface the painting by throwing cake on it. 

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The first attack on the masterpiece was in 1956, when it was on display in the south of France for an exhibition. A vandal threw acid at the painting – but it’s not known if this caused any damage.

Later that year, a homeless man threw a rock at the piece, allegedly because he wanted to go to prison so he’d have somewhere warm to sleep.

The rock chipped some paint off Mona Lisa’s elbow, and after the repairs the painting was kept behind glass.

While on tour at the Tokyo National Museum in Japan in 1974, a woman using a wheelchair attempted to graffiti the artwork with red paint in protest against the museum’s lack of accessibility options. Only the glass case was damaged.

And in 2009 a woman threw a ceramic mug at the painting, which shattered against the glass, meaning the Mona Lisa was undamaged.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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