Mona Lisa replicas and reinterpretations
At the start of the 16th century, Leonardo da Vinci was commissioned by Florentine nobleman Francesco del Giocondo to paint a portrait of his wife, Lisa.
The painting is believed to have been undertaken between 1503 and 1506.
Leonardo's portrait of "Mona Lisa" ("Mona" or "Monna" being the Italian honorific for "Madame") has been on display as part of the permanent collection at Paris' Louvre museum since 1797. It is also known as "La Joconde" in French and "La Gioconda" in Italian, and has been known by other names in the past. There is a new study setting the beginning of the Mona Lisa to an earlier date that thought before, pre-1478, contrary to Vasari's narrative.
Replicas of "Mona Lisa" date back to the 16th century,
including sculptures and etchings inspired by the painting.
But even by the start of the 20th century, historian Donald Sassoon has stated, "Mona Lisa" was still "just a well-respected painting by a famous old master, hanging in one of the great museums of the world."
The image had yet to gain iconic status, and, Sassoon adds, was "not even the most valued painting in the Louvre."
The painting's theft on August 11, 1911, and the subsequent media frenzy surrounding the investigation and its recovery are contributing factors which ignited public interest and catapulted "Mona Lisa" to its current standing.
Mona Lisa (Prado's version)
The origins of the "Prado's Mona Lisa" are linked to those of Leonardo's original, as both paintings were likely created simultaneously in the same studio. The first documentary reference was made in the 1666 inventory in the Galleria del Mediodia of the Alcazar in Madrid as "Mujer de mano de Leonardo Abince" ("Woman by Leonardo da Vinci's hand"). However, it is still unknown when the portrait entered the Spanish Royal Collection, though it could have been already in Spain in the early years of the 17th century. Since the Prado's founding in 1819, the replica has been part of its permanent collection, habitually displayed in the museum.