13. Mona Lisa
The Mona Lisa, painted in the early 16th century by Leonardo da Vinci, is perhaps the most famous painting in the world. Art critics and insurers value it at almost 800 million dollars. The picture has been continuously on display at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France since 1797. It is painted in oil on a panel of poplar wood.
For many years, the prevailing theory, at least in popular culture, was that the Mona Lisa was actually a self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci as a woman. However, modern research has determined that the painting is likely a portrait of Italian noblewoman Lisa Gherardini, whose married name was Lisa del Giocondo. She was a moderately wealthy middle-class member of a minor noble family of Florence and Tuscany.
The painting, due to its infamous nature and incredible value, has been a target of both theft and vandalism over the years. In 1911, the portrait was stolen from the Louvre Museum and missing for over a week before being returned unharmed. In 1974 while on loan in Tokyo, a woman sprayed the painting with red paint to protest the museum’s lack of access for disabled patrons. Bulletproof glass saved the art from the protest and had protected it from numerous other attempts at vandalism in subsequent years.
