The Mona Lisa first entered the Louvre’s collection in 1797, when it went on permanent display there after the French Revolution. The painting had already belonged to France for centuries, but 1797 marks its arrival in the revolutionary museum that became the Louvre.
Leonardo took the portrait to France in 1516, when he entered the service of King Francis I. After Leonardo’s death in 1519, the French monarchy acquired the work. It remained in royal collections until the Revolution transformed former royal property into national cultural property and opened the Louvre as a public museum.
A common mix-up is to answer 1503, the approximate year Leonardo began painting the portrait, or 1517, a possible late date for his work on it. Neither date marks the Louvre acquisition. The painting was briefly moved from the Louvre to Napoleon’s bedroom in the Tuileries Palace, but it has normally been associated with the Louvre since 1797.