Isleworth Mona Lisa
According to Leonardo's early biographer Giorgio Vasari, Leonardo had started to paint "Mona Lisa" in 1503, but "left it unfinished". However, a fully finished painting of a "certain Florentine lady" surfaced again in 1517, shortly before Leonardo's death and in his private possession. The latter painting almost certainly is the one that now hangs in the Louvre. Based on this contradiction, supporters of the authenticity of the "Isleworth Mona Lisa" claim it is the unfinished "Mona Lisa", made at least partially by Leonardo, and the Louvre "Mona Lisa" a later version of it, made by Leonardo for his own use.
Mona Lisa replicas and reinterpretations
Contemporary "Mona Lisa" replicas are often created in conjunction with events or exhibitions related to Leonardo da Vinci, for publicity.
Her portrait, considered public domain and therefore outside of copyright protection, has also been exploited to make political statements.
Known even to people with no art background, the mere use of "Mona Lisa"'s name – immortalized in Academy Award-winning lyrics sung by Nat King Cole (Best Original Song, 1950) – is capable of stirring public interest and intrigue.
Aside from countless print-reproductions of Leonardo's original "Mona Lisa" on postcards, coffee mugs and T-shirts, her likeness has also been re-imagined using coffee, toast, seaweed, Rubik's Cubes, and computer chips, to name only a few.
Now over five-hundred years since her creation, the perpetuation of "Mona Lisa"'s influence is reinforced with every reinterpretation.