The Mona Lisa

Mona Lisa was the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, a Florentine friend of Leonardo da Vinci; and her portrait in the Louvre is rightly considered one of the chefs-d'aeuvre of this master and of his style. He is said to have worked at this portrait for four years without having finished it to his own satisfaction.

The picture is known as "La Belle Joconde" (in Italian, "La Gioconda"); and Vasari describes it as "rather divine than human, as lifelike as nature itself, ... not painting, but the despair of other painters." M.Michelet adds, "This picture attracts me, it fascinates and absorbs me: I go to it in spite of myself, as the bird is drawn to the serpent."