The Mona Lisa is the most famous (and most parodied)
painting in the world... created by Italian Renaissance
master Leonardo Da Vinci in the early 1500's, the portrait
hangs at the Louvre in Paris where it was first displayed
in 1797... the subject of the portrait was Lisa Gherardini,
the wife of Italian nobleman Francesco del Giocondo...
the Mona Lisa is smaller than you might think (measuring
just 30 x 21 inches) but its popularity and impact have
been gigantic over the centuries.