Mona Lisa (also known as La Gioconda) is a portrait of a young woman by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci around 1503. The painting is one of the most famous works painting in the world. Belongs to the Renaissance. Exhibited at the Louvre (Paris, France).

History

In no other painting by Leonardo, the depth and haze of the atmosphere are not conveyed with such perfection as in "Mona Lisa". it aerial perspective probably the best in performance. The Mona Lisa is renowned worldwide not only for the quality of Leonardo's work, which impresses art amateurs and professionals alike. The painting has been studied by historians and copied by painters, but it would have long remained known only to connoisseurs of art, if not for its exceptional history. In 1911, "Mona Lisa" was devoured and only three years later, due to coincidence of circumstances, returned to the museum. During this time, "Mona Lisa" did not leave the covers of newspapers and magazines around the world. Therefore, it is not surprising that Mona Lisa was copied more often than all other paintings. Since then, the painting has become an object of cult and worship, as a masterpiece of world classics.

Mystery of the model

The person depicted in the portrait is difficult to identify. Until today, many controversial and, sometimes, absurd opinions have been expressed on this matter:

The wife of the Florentine merchant del Giocondo
Isabella of Este
Just a perfect woman
Young boy in a woman's dress
Self-portrait of Leonardo

The mystery that still surrounds the stranger to this day attracts millions of visitors to the Louvre every year.

In 1517, Cardinal Louis of Aragon visited Leonardo at his atelier in France. A description of this visit was made by the Secretary of the Cardinal Antonio de Beatis: “On October 10, 1517, Monsignor and others like him visited in one of the distant parts of Amboise, visited Messire Leonardo da Vinci, a Florentine, a gray-bearded old man, who is more than seventy years old, - the most excellent artist of our time ... He showed His Excellency three paintings: one depicting a Florentine lady, painted from life at the request of Brother Lorenzo the Magnificent, Giuliano Medici, another - Saint John the Baptist in his youth, and the third - Saint Anne with Mary and the baby Christ; all are supremely beautiful. From the master himself, due to the fact that his right hand was paralyzed at that time, it was no longer possible to expect new good works ”.

According to some researchers, “a certain Florentine lady” means “Mona Lisa”. It is possible, however, that it was a different portrait, from which no evidence or copies have survived, as a result of which Giuliano Medici could not have anything to do with the Mona Lisa.

According to Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), author of biographies Italian artists Mona Lisa (short for Madonna Lisa) was the wife of a Florentine named Francesco del Giocondo (Italian Francesco del Giocondo), on whose portrait Leonardo spent four years, yet leaving it unfinished.

Vasari expresses a very laudatory opinion about the quality of this painting: “Anyone who wants to see how well art can imitate nature can easily be convinced of this by the example of the head, because here Leonardo reproduced all the details ... The eyes are filled with shine and moisture, like living people ... A delicate pink nose seems real. The red tone of the mouth harmoniously matches the complexion ... Whoever looked closely at her neck, everyone thought that her pulse was beating ... ”. He also explains the slight smile on her face: “Leonardo allegedly invited musicians and clowns to entertain the lady who was bored from long posing”.

This story may be true, but most likely Vasari simply added it to Leonardo's biography for the entertainment of readers. Vasari's description also contains an accurate description of the eyebrows missing from the painting. This inaccuracy could arise only if the author described the picture from memory or from the stories of others. The painting was well known among art lovers, although Leonardo left Italy for France in 1516, taking the painting with him. According to Italian sources, it has since been in the collection of the French king Francis I, but it remains unclear when and how it was acquired by him and why Leonardo did not return it to the customer.

Vasari, born in 1511, could not see La Gioconda with his own eyes and was forced to refer to the information given by the anonymous author of the first biography of Leonardo. It was he who wrote about the little-influential silk merchant Francesco Giocondo, who ordered a portrait of his third wife Lisa from the artist. Despite the words of this anonymous contemporary, many researchers still doubt the possibility that "Mona Lisa" was written in Florence (1500-1505). Refined technique indicates a later creation of the painting. In addition, at this time Leonardo was so busy working on the "Battle of Anghiari" that he even refused Princess Isabella d "Este" to accept her order. Could then a simple merchant persuade the famous master to paint a portrait of his wife?

It is also interesting that in his description, Vasari admires Leonardo's talent to convey physical phenomena, and not the similarity between the model and the painting. It seems that it was this physical feature of the masterpiece that left a deep impression among visitors to the artist's studio and reached Vasari almost fifty years later.

Composition

A careful analysis of the composition leads to the conclusion that Leonardo did not seek to create an individual portrait. "Mona Lisa" became the realization of the artist's ideas, expressed by him in his treatise on painting. Leonardo's approach to his work has always had a scientific character. Therefore, "Mona Lisa", on the creation of which he spent many years, has become a beautiful, but at the same time unattainable and emotionless way. She seems voluptuous and cold at the same time. Despite the fact that Jaconda's gaze is directed at us, a visual barrier is created between us and her - the handle of the chair, acting as a partition. Such a concept excludes the possibility of an intimate dialogue, as, for example, in the portrait of Balthazar Castiglione (exhibited in the Louvre, Paris), painted by Raphael about ten years later. However, our gaze constantly returns to her illuminated face, surrounded as a frame by dark hair, hidden under a transparent veil, shadows on her neck and a dark smoky background landscape. Against the background of the distant mountains, the figure gives the impression of a monumental one, although the format of the picture is small (77x53 cm). This monumentality inherent in exalted divine beings keeps us mere mortals at a respectful distance and at the same time makes us unsuccessfully strive for the unattainable. It was not for nothing that Leonardo chose the position of the model, very similar to the positions of the Mother of God in Italian paintings of the 15th century. The complementary distance is created by artificiality arising from the impeccable sfumato effect (abandoning clear outlines in favor of creating an airy impression). Presumably, Leonardo actually completely freed himself from portrait resemblance in favor of creating the illusion of an atmosphere and a living breathing body using a plane, paints and a brush. For us, La Gioconda will forever remain Leonardo's masterpiece.

Detective story "Mona Lisa"

Mona Lisa would have long been known only to fine art connoisseurs, if not for her exceptional history, which made her world famous.

From the beginning of the sixteenth century, the painting, acquired by Francis I after the death of Leonardo, remained in the royal collection. From 1793 it was housed in the Central Museum of Fine Arts in the Louvre. Mona Lisa has always remained in the Louvre as one of the assets of the national collection. On August 21, 1911, the painting was stolen by an employee of the Louvre, the Italian master of mirrors Vincenzo Peruggia. The purpose of this abduction has not been unambiguously clarified. Perhaps Perugia wanted to return "La Gioconda" to its historical homeland. The picture was found only two years later in Italy. And the reason for this was the thief himself, who responded to an advertisement in the newspaper and offered to sell the "La Gioconda". In the end, on January 1, 1914, the painting returned to France.

In the twentieth century, the painting almost never left the Louvre, having visited the United States in 1963 and Japan in 1974. The trips only strengthened the success and fame of the picture.

Mona Lisa. Who is she? - article

Mona Lisa. Who is she?

Mona Lisa (also known as La Gioconda) is a portrait of a young woman by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci around 1503. The painting is one of the most famous paintings in the world. Belongs to the Renaissance. Exhibited at the Louvre (Paris, France).

History

In no other painting by Leonardo, the depth and haze of the atmosphere are not conveyed with such perfection as in "Mona Lisa". This aerial perspective is probably the best in performance. The Mona Lisa is renowned worldwide not only for the quality of Leonardo's work, which impresses art amateurs and professionals alike. The painting has been studied by historians and copied by painters, but it would have long remained known only to connoisseurs of art, if not for its exceptional history. In 1911, "Mona Lisa" was devoured and only three years later, due to coincidence of circumstances, returned to the museum. During this time, "Mona Lisa" did not leave the covers of newspapers and magazines around the world. Therefore, it is not surprising that Mona Lisa was copied more often than all other paintings. Since then, the painting has become an object of cult and worship, as a masterpiece of world classics.

Mystery of the model

The person depicted in the portrait is difficult to identify. Until today, many controversial and, sometimes, absurd opinions have been expressed on this matter:

The wife of the Florentine merchant del Giocondo
Isabella of Este
Just a perfect woman
Young boy in a woman's dress
Self-portrait of Leonardo

The mystery that still surrounds the stranger to this day attracts millions of visitors to the Louvre every year.

According to Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), the author of biographies of Italian artists, Mona Lisa (short for Madonna Lisa) was the wife of a Florentine named Francesco del Giocondo, whose portrait Leonardo spent four years its unfinished.

Composition

Detective story "Mona Lisa"

Mona Lisa would have long been known only to fine art connoisseurs, if not for her exceptional history, which made her world famous.

In the twentieth century, the painting almost never left the Louvre, having visited the United States in 1963 and Japan in 1974. The trips only strengthened the success and fame of the picture.

Based on materials from Wikipedia

Leonardo da Vinci. Portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo (Mona Lisa or La Gioconda). 1503-1519. Louvre, Paris.

Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci is the most mysterious painting. Because she is very popular. When there is so much attention, an unthinkable amount of secrets and conjectures appears.

So I couldn't resist trying to solve one of these mysteries. No, I will not look for encrypted codes. I will not solve the mystery of her smile.

I'm worried about something else. Why does the description of the portrait of Mona Lisa by Leonardo's contemporaries do not coincide with what we see in the portrait from the Louvre? Does the Louvre really have a portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of the silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo? And if this is not Mona Lisa, then where is the real La Gioconda kept?

Leonardo's authorship is undeniable

That the Louvre La Gioconda was written by himself, almost no one doubts. It is in this portrait that the sfumato method invented by the master (very subtle transitions from light to shadow) is revealed as much as possible. A barely perceptible haze shading the lines makes Mona Lisa almost alive. It seems that her lips are now parting. She will sigh. The chest will rise.

Few could rival Leonardo in creating such realism. Except that . But in the application of the method, sfumato was still inferior to him.

Even compared to earlier portraits of Leonardo himself, the Louvre Mona Lisa is a clear advance.

Leonardo da Vinci. Left: Portrait of Ginerva Benchi. 1476 National Gallery of Washington. Middle: Lady with an ermine. 1490 Czartoryski Museum, Krakow. Right: Mona Lisa. 1503-1519 Louvre, Paris

Leonardo's contemporaries described a completely different Mona Lisa

There is no doubt about Leonardo's authorship. But is it correct to call the lady in the Louvre Mona Lisa? Anyone can have doubts about this. It is enough to read the description of the portrait, the younger contemporary of Leonardo da Vinci. This is what he wrote in 1550, 30 years after the death of the master:

“Leonardo undertook to make a portrait of Mona Lisa, his wife, for Francesco del Giocondo, and after working on it for four years, left it imperfect ... the eyes have that shine and that moisture that is usually seen in a living person ... Eyebrows could not have been more natural: hair grow densely in one place and less often in another in accordance with the pores of the skin ... The mouth, slightly open with the edges connected by the scarlet lips ... Mona Lisa was very beautiful ... the smile was so pleasant that it seems as if you are contemplating a divine rather than a human being ... "

Notice how many of Vasari's descriptions do not match the Mona Lisa from the Louvre.

At the time of writing the portrait, Lisa was no more than 25 years old. The Mona Lisa from the Louvre is clearly older. This is already a lady who is over 30-35 years old.

Also Vasari talks about eyebrows. Which Mona Lisa doesn't have. However, this can be attributed to poor restoration. There is a version that they were erased due to unsuccessful cleaning of the painting.

Leonardo da Vinci. Mona Lisa (detail). 1503-1519

Red lips with a parted mouth are completely absent from the Louvre portrait.

The lovely smile of a divine being is also debatable. Not everyone seems to be like that. It is sometimes even compared to the smile of a confident predator. But this is already a matter of taste. The beauty of the Mona Lisa mentioned by Vasari is also debatable.

The main thing is that the Louvre La Gioconda is completely finished. Vasari claims that the portrait was left unfinished. This is already a serious inconsistency.

Where is the real Mona Lisa located?

So if the Mona Lisa is not hanging in the Louvre, so where is she?

I know by at least three portraits that are much more suited to Vasari's description. In addition, they were all created in the same years as the Louvre portrait.

1. Mona Lisa from Prado

Unknown artist(student of Leonardo da Vinci). Mona Lisa. 1503-1519

This Mona Lisa received little attention until 2012. Until one day the restaurateurs cleared the black background. And lo and behold! Under the dark paint was a landscape - an exact copy of the Louvre background.

Prado's Mona Lisa is 10 years younger than her rival from the Louvre. Which corresponds to the real age of the real Lisa. She's nicer in appearance. She has eyebrows after all.

However, the experts did not begin to claim the title of the main picture of the world. They admitted that the work was done by one of Leonardo's students.

Thanks to this work, we can imagine what the Louvre Mona Lisa looked like 500 years ago. After all, the portrait from the Prado is much better preserved. Due to Leonardo's constant experiments with paints and varnishes, the Mona Lisa darkened very much. Most likely, she once also wore a red dress, not a golden brown dress.

2. Flora from the Hermitage

Francesco Melzi. Flora (Columbine). 1510-1515 , St. Petersburg

Flora fits Vasari's description very well. Young, very beautiful, with an unusually pleasant smile of red lips.

In addition, this is how Melzi himself described the beloved work of his teacher Leonardo. In his correspondence, he calls her Gioconda. The painting, he said, depicted a girl of incredible beauty with a Columbine flower in her hand.

However, we do not see her “wet” eyes. In addition, it is unlikely that Signor Giocondo would have allowed his wife to pose with bare breasts.

So why does Melzi call her Gioconda? After all, it is this name that makes some experts think that the real Mona Lisa is not in the Louvre, but in.

There may have been confusion over 500 years. From Italian “Gioconda” is translated as “Merry”. Maybe this is what the students called and Leonardo himself called his Flora. But it so happened that this word coincided with the name of the person who ordered the portrait, Giocondo.

Unknown artist (Leonardo da Vinci?). Isleworth Mona Lisa. 1503-1507 Private collection

This portrait was revealed to the general public about 100 years ago. An English collector bought it from Italian owners in 1914. They allegedly had no idea what kind of treasure they possess.

A version was seen that this is the same Mona Lisa that Leonardo wrote to order for Signor Giocondo. But he did not finish it.

It is also assumed that the Mona Lisa that hangs in the Louvre was painted by Leonardo 10 years later already for himself. Taking as a basis the already familiar image of Signora Giocondo. For their own pictorial experiments. So that no one bothers him and does not demand a picture.

The version looks plausible. Besides, the Isleworth Mona Lisa is just unfinished. I wrote about this. Notice how unworked the woman's neck and the landscape behind her are. She also looks younger than her Louvre rival. As if really the same woman was portrayed with a difference of 10-15 years.

The version is very interesting. If not for one big BUT. The Isleworth Mona Lisa was painted on canvas. Whereas Leonardo da Vinci wrote only on the blackboard. Including the Louvre Mona Lisa.

Crime of the century. The abduction of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre

Maybe the real Mona Lisa hangs in the Louvre. And Vasari described it too inaccurately. And Leonardo has nothing to do with the three above pictures.

However, in the 20th century, there was one case that still casts doubt on the fact that the real La Gioconda hangs in the Louvre.

In August 1911, the Mona Lisa disappeared from the museum. They have been looking for her for 3 years. Until the offender betrayed himself in the stupidest way. Placed an ad in the newspaper for the sale of the painting. The collector came to see the picture and realized that the person who submitted the ad was not crazy. Mona Lisa was actually gathering dust under his mattress.

Louvre. Crime scene photo (Mona Lisa disappeared). 1911 g.

The culprit was the Italian Vincenzo Perugia. He was a glazier and painter. He worked for several weeks at the Louvre on glass protective boxes for paintings.

According to his version, patriotic feelings awoke in him. He decided to return to Italy the painting stolen by Napoleon. For some reason, he was sure that all the paintings of the Italian masters of the Louvre were stolen by this dictator.

The story is very suspicious. Why did he not let know about himself for 3 years? It is possible that he or his client needed time to make a copy of the Mona Lisa. As soon as the copy was ready, the thief issued an ad that would obviously lead to his arrest. By the way, they sentenced him to a ridiculous term. Less than a year later, Perugia was already at large.

So it may well be that the Louvre got back a very high quality fake. By that time, they had already learned how to artificially age paintings and pass them off as originals.

Louvre officials do not call the most famous portrait of the world the Mona Lisa. Between themselves, they designate her as “The Florentine Lady”. Apparently, many of them are sure that it is unlikely that she was the wife of Signor Giocondo. So the real Mona Lisa is somewhere else ..?

Read about other titans of painting in the article “

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Leonardo da Vinci's painting "Mona Lisa" was painted in 1505, but it still remains the most popular work of art. The mysterious expression on the woman's face is still an unresolved problem. In addition, the painting is famous for the unusual methods of execution used by the artist and, most importantly, "Mona Lisa" was repeatedly stolen. The loudest case happened about 100 years ago - on August 21, 1911.

Back in 1911, "Mona Lisa", whose full name is "Portrait of Madame Lisa del Giocondo", was kidnapped by an employee of the Louvre, the Italian master of mirrors Vincenzo Perugia. But then no one even suspected him of stealing. Suspicions fell on the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, and even Pablo Picasso! The administration of the museum was immediately dismissed, and the borders of France were temporarily closed. Newspaper hype greatly contributed to the growth of the film's popularity.

The painting was discovered only 2 years later in Italy. Interestingly, through an oversight of the thief himself. He went wrong, responding to an ad in the newspaper and offering the director of the Uffizi Gallery to buy the Mona Lisa.

8 facts about Gioconda Leonardo da Vinci that will amaze you

1. It turns out that Leonardo da Vinci copied "La Gioconda" twice. Experts believe that the paints on the original versions were significantly brighter. And the sleeves of the Gioconda dress were originally red, just the colors faded over time.

In addition, the original version of the painting had columns along the edges of the canvas. Later, the painting was cropped, probably by the artist himself.

2. The first place where they saw "La Gioconda" was the bathhouse of the great politician and collector King Francis I. According to legend, before his death, Leonardo da Vinci sold La Gioconda to Francis for 4 thousand gold coins. In those days, it was just a huge amount.

The king placed the painting in the bathhouse not because he did not realize what masterpiece he got, but quite the opposite. At that time, the bathhouse at Fontainebleau was the most important place in the French kingdom. There Francis not only entertained with his mistresses, but also received ambassadors.

3. At one time, Mona Lisa liked Napoleon Bonaparte so much that he transported her from the Louvre to the Tuileries Palace and hung her in his bedroom. Napoleon did not understand anything about painting, but he highly appreciated da Vinci. True, not as an artist, but as a generalist genius, which, by the way, he considered himself to be. After becoming emperor, Napoleon returned the painting to the museum in the Louvre, which he named after himself.

4. In the eyes of Mona Lisa, tiny numbers and letters are hidden, which are unlikely to be noticed with the naked eye. researchers suggest that these are the initials of Leonardo da Vinci and the year the painting was created.

5. During World War II, many of the works from the Louvre collection were hidden in the Château Chambord. Among them was the Mona Lisa. The place where the Mona Lisa is hidden was kept in the strictest confidence. The paintings were hidden for a reason: later it turns out that Hitler was planning to create the world's largest museum in Linz. And for this he organized a whole campaign under the leadership of the German art connoisseur Hans Posse.

6. It is believed that the painting depicts Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco del Gioconda, a Florentine silk merchant. True, there are also more exotic versions. According to one of them, Mona Lisa is the mother of Leonardo Caterina, according to the other, it is a self-portrait of the artist in female incarnation, and according to the third, it is Salai, a student of Leonardo, dressed in a woman's dress.

7. Most researchers believe that the landscape painted behind La Gioconda is fictional. There are versions that this is the Valdarno Valley or the Montefeltro region, but there is no convincing evidence of these versions. It is known that Leonardo painted the painting in his Milan workshop.

8. The painting in the Louvre has its own hall. Now the painting is inside a special protective system, which includes bullet-resistant glass, sophisticated alarm and installation to create an optimal microclimate for the preservation of the canvas. The cost of this system is $ 7 million.

Leonardo da Vinci's painting "Mona Lisa" is the first thing that tourists from any country associate the Louvre with. This is the most famous and mysterious painting in the history of world art. Her mysterious smile still makes people think and charm people who don't like or are not interested in painting. And the story of her abduction at the beginning of the 20th century turned the picture into living legend... But first things first.

The history of the painting

"Mona Lisa" is just an abbreviated title of the painting. In the original it sounds like "Portrait of Mrs. Lisa Giocondo" (Ritratto di Monna Lisa del Giocondo). From Italian, the word ma donna is translated as "my lady". Over time, it turned into simply mona, from which the well-known name of the painting came.

Biographers-contemporaries of the artist wrote that he rarely took orders, but there was originally a special story with Mona Lisa. He devoted himself to work with a special passion, spent almost all his time on writing it, and took it with him to France (Leonardo left Italy forever) along with other selected paintings.

It is known that the artist began painting in 1503-1505 and only in 1516 applied the last stroke, shortly before his death. According to the will, the painting was transferred to Leonardo's pupil, Salai. It remains unknown how the painting migrated back to France (most likely, Fratsis I acquired it from the heirs of Salai). During the time of Louis XIV, the painting migrated to the Palace of Versailles, and after the French Revolution, the Louvre became its permanent home.

There is nothing special in the history of creation; the lady with a mysterious smile in the picture is of greater interest. Who is she?

According to the official version, this is a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo, the young wife of the prominent Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo. Very little is known about Lisa: she was born in Florence into a noble family. She married early and led a calm, measured life. Francesco del Giocondo was a great admirer of art and painting, patronized artists. It was he who had the idea to order a portrait of his wife in honor of the birth of their first child. There is a hypothesis that Leonardo was in love with Lisa. This can explain his special affection for the painting and long time work on it.

It's amazing, almost nothing is known about Lisa's life, and her portrait is the main work of world painting.

But historians-contemporaries of Leonardo are not so unambiguous. According to Giorgio Vasari, the model could be Caterina Sforza (a representative of the ruling dynasty of the Italian Renaissance, was considered the main woman of that era), Cecilia Gallerani (beloved of Duke Louis Sforza, model of another portrait of a genius - "Lady with an Ermine"), the artist's mother, Leonardo himself , a young man in a woman's attire and just a portrait of a woman, the standard of beauty of the Renaissance.

Description of the picture

A small canvas depicts a woman of medium footprints, in a dark cape (according to historians, a sign of widowhood), sitting half-turned. As in other portraits of the Italian Renaissance, the Mona Lisa has no eyebrows and shaved hair at the top of her forehead. Most likely, the model posed on the balcony, as the parapet line is visible. It is believed that the picture is cropped a little, the columns visible behind them were completely in the original size.

It is believed that the composition of the painting is the standard of the portrait genre. It is written according to all the laws of harmony and rhythm: the model is inscribed in a proportional rectangle, a wavy strand of hair is in tune with a translucent veil, and folded hands give the picture a special compositional completeness.

Mona Lisa Smile

This phrase has long lived separately from the picture, turning into a literary cliché. This is the main mystery and charm of the canvas. It attracts the attention of not only ordinary viewers and art critics, but also psychologists. For example, Sigmund Freud calls her smile "flirting." A special look is "fleeting".

State of the art

Due to the fact that the artist loved to experiment with paints and writing techniques, the picture has darkened very much by now. And strong cracks form on its surface. One of them is located a millimeter above the head of La Gioconda. In the middle of the last century, the canvas was sent on a "tour" to museums in the USA and Japan. Museum of Fine Arts. A.S. Pushkin was lucky enough to host a masterpiece for the duration of the exhibition.

The fame of La Gioconda

The painting was highly regarded among Leonardo's contemporaries, but over the decades it became forgotten. Until the 19th century, it was not remembered about it until the moment when the romantic writer Théophile Gaultier spoke about the "La Gioconda smile" in one of his literary works... Strange, but up to this point this feature of the picture was simply called "pleasant" and there was no mystery in it.

The painting gained real popularity among the general public in connection with its mysterious abduction in 1911. Newspaper hype around this story gained immense popularity for the picture. It was possible to find her only in 1914, where she was all this time - remains a mystery. Her captor was Vinchezo Perugio, an employee of the Louvre, an Italian by nationality. The exact motives of the abduction are unknown, he probably wanted to bring the canvas to his historical homeland of Leonardo, Italy.

Mona Lisa today

"Mona Lisa" still "lives" in the Louvre, she, as the main artistic example, has a separate room in the museum. She was vandalized several times before being placed in bulletproof glass in 1956. Because of this, it glares a lot, so sometimes it can be problematic to see it. Nevertheless, it is she who attracts most of the Louvre's visitors with her smile and fleeting glance.