14 Things You Didn’t Know About the Mona Lisa

A likely story indeed! said the Pigeon in a tone of the deepest contempt. I’ve seen a good many little girls in my time, but never one with such a neck as that! No, no! You’re a serpent; and there’s no use denying it. I suppose you’ll be telling me next that you never tasted an egg! I have tasted eggs, certainly, said Alice, who was a very truthful child; but little girls eat eggs quite as much as serpents do, you know. I don’t believe it, said the Pigeon; but if they do, why then they’re a kind of serpent, that’s all I can say.

It matters a good deal to me

Said Alice hastily; ‘but I’m not looking for eggs, as it happens; and if I was, I shouldn’t want yours: I don’t like them raw.’

This was such a new idea to Alice, that she was quite silent for a minute or two, which gave the Pigeon the opportunity of adding, ‘You’re looking for eggs, I know that well enough; and what does it matter to me whether you’re a little girl or a serpent?’

Loudly at the door with his knuckles. It was opened by another footman in livery, with a round face, and large eyes like a frog; and both footmen, Alice noticed, had powdered hair that curled all over their heads. She felt very curious to know what it was all about, and crept a little way out of the wood to listen.

After a while she remembered that she still held the pieces of mushroom in her hands, and she set to work very carefully, nibbling first at one and then at the other, and growing sometimes taller and sometimes shorter, until she had succeeded in bringing herself down to her usual height.

Italic Text

‘Well, be off, then!’ said the Pigeon in a sulky tone, as it settled down again into its nest. Alice crouched down among the trees as well as she could, for her neck kept getting entangled among the branches, and every now and then she had to stop and untwist it.

Some list

• It was so long since she had been anything near the right size, that it felt quite strange at first; but she got used to it in a few minutes, and began talking to herself, as usual.
• Come, there’s half my plan done now! How puzzling all these changes are!
• I’m never sure what I’m going to be, from one minute to another!
• However, I’ve got back to my right size: the next thing is, to get into that beautiful garden—how IS that to be done, I wonder?’
• As she said this, she came suddenly upon an open place, with a little house in it about four feet high. ‘Whoever lives there,’ thought Alice, ‘it’ll never do to come upon them THIS size: why, I should frighten them out of their wits!’
• So she began nibbling at the righthand bit again, and did not venture to go near the house till she had brought herself down to nine inches high.

For a minute or two she stood looking at the house, and wondering what to do next, when suddenly a footman in livery came running out of the wood (she considered him to be a footman because he was in livery: otherwise, judging by his face only, she would have called him a fish).

She felt very curious

The Fish-Footman began by producing from under his arm a great letter, nearly as large as himself, and this he handed over to the other, saying, in a solemn tone, ‘For the Duchess. An invitation from the Queen to play croquet.’ The Frog-Footman repeated, in the same solemn tone, only changing the order of the words a little, ‘From the Queen. An invitation for the Duchess to play croquet.’

Then they both bowed low, and their curls got entangled together.

The List: 14 Facts About Leonardo’s Most Famous Portrait

Few paintings have been studied, copied, parodied and protected as much as the Mona Lisa. Here are fourteen facts that help explain why a modest portrait became the most famous painting in the world.

1. It is smaller than many people expect. The panel measures roughly 77 by 53 centimeters, about 30 by 21 inches. Visitors who picture a giant canvas are often surprised.
2. It is painted on wood. Leonardo da Vinci used oil paint on a poplar panel, not canvas.
3. The sitter is widely identified as Lisa Gherardini. She was the wife of a Florentine merchant, Francesco del Giocondo, which is why the painting is also known as La Gioconda in Italian and La Joconde in French.
4. Leonardo began it in the early 1500s. He is generally believed to have started work around 1503 and continued refining it for years.
5. He never handed it over. Rather than delivering the portrait to the family, Leonardo kept it with him, and it traveled with him when he moved to France late in his life.
6. It entered the French royal collection. The painting came into the possession of King Francis I and passed down through the French crown before becoming part of the Louvre’s collection.
7. The soft look has a name. Leonardo’s technique of blending tones without hard outlines is called sfumato, from an Italian word linked to smoke. It is a big part of why her expression seems to shift.
8. The background landscape is imaginary. The winding paths, water and rocky hills behind her are generally seen as an invented, dreamlike setting rather than a precise map of a real place.
9. It once hung in Napoleon’s private rooms. Before returning to the Louvre, the portrait spent a period in Napoleon Bonaparte’s residence.
10. It was stolen in 1911. A former Louvre worker, Vincenzo Peruggia, walked out with it. The empty wall drew crowds, and the theft made the painting a global sensation.
11. It came home in 1913. The painting was recovered in Florence when Peruggia tried to sell it, and it was returned to Paris.
12. Famous artists were caught up in the case. The poet Guillaume Apollinaire was briefly jailed during the investigation, and Pablo Picasso was questioned. Neither was found responsible.
13. It was hidden during the Second World War. Along with many other treasures, it was moved out of the Louvre and kept in safe locations in the French countryside.
14. It has traveled abroad only rarely. Its best-known trip was a 1963 visit to the United States, where it was shown in Washington and New York and drew enormous crowds.

Why She Became So Famous

Great technique alone does not make a painting a household name. The Mona Lisa’s fame grew from layers of history: Leonardo’s reputation as the ultimate Renaissance genius, centuries in royal and national collections, nineteenth-century writers who romanticized her mysterious smile, and above all the 1911 theft, which turned an admired masterpiece into front-page news around the world. Every parody since, from Marcel Duchamp’s mustached postcard to countless advertisements, has only reinforced her status.

Tips for Seeing It in Person

• Go early or late. The room is busiest at midday. Arriving near opening or later in the day can mean a calmer view.
• Look beyond the glass. The painting sits behind protective glass at a distance. Take a moment to study the landscape and the hands, which are often overlooked.
• Turn around. The same gallery holds other major Italian Renaissance works that deserve attention.
• Book ahead. Check the museum’s official site for current entry rules and timed tickets before you travel.

Questions Readers Ask

Why does her smile seem to change?

Leonardo’s soft shading around the mouth and eyes reads differently depending on where your eye focuses, so the expression appears to shift as you look.

Can you see an original Leonardo in Boston?

Leonardo’s surviving paintings are few and held mainly in European collections, but Boston-area museums offer strong Renaissance collections that help put his work in context.