Elaine

The name the painting is most recognized by is Mona Lisa but that only came about because of a spelling error! The original name of the painting was Monna Lisa. Monna, in Italian, was a common Italian shortening of Madonna, meaning my lady.

Most people know that Leonardo da Vinci is the artist, but many believe that the womans identity is unknown. Some even think that its him - Leonardo da Vinci himself in the female form. The most commonly believed theory is that the woman is Lisa Gherardini, born in 1479. She was 24 years old and the mother of two sons when she posed for the painting. Why he chose her is still a mystery.

The painting actually has a recent imperfection. In 1956, a man named Ugo Ungaza threw a rock at the painting, which resulted in a small patch of damaged paint next to her left elbow.

The unrivaled fame of this work is partially because it was stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris in broad daylight by an employee in 1911. It was quickly recovered two years later.

The painting resides in its own room in the Louvre Museum in Paris and is protected in a climate controlled environment and encased in bullet proof glass. This room was built especially for the painting and cost the museum over seven million dollars. The painting is considered priceless and cannot be insured.

It is rumored that the reason she has no eyebrows in the painting is because during one of the first times they were trying to clean and restore the painting an error was made and the eyebrows were accidentally removed. Other thoughts are that Leonardo, who was the consummate perfectionist, never finished the painting, as most of his paintings were left unfinished.

Recent extensive studies show that there are three different versions painted under the presently viewed version. One version has her hands clutching the arms of the chair instead of in front of her.

Brandon Fuhrmann is an expert on art for Ownapainting.com Ownapainting.com offers 100% hand painted reproductions of classic artwork. Visit http://www.Ownapainting.com for more information on da Vinci's Mona Lisa