The "Mona Lisa" was painted by?

The “Mona Lisa” was painted by Leonardo da Vinci. The portrait, also known as the “La Gioconda” or “Monna Lisa,” is generally believed to depict Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Florentine merchant Francesco del Giocondo.

Leonardo began the painting around 1503 in Florence and continued working on it for years, possibly carrying it with him when he moved to France. It is painted in oil on a poplar wood panel and is renowned for its subtle shading technique, called sfumato, which creates the soft transitions around the sitter’s eyes and mouth.

The painting became especially famous after it was stolen from the Louvre in 1911 by Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian employee who believed it belonged in Italy. Its recovery two years later made international headlines. Today, the original Mona Lisa is displayed at the Louvre Museum in Paris.

A common mix-up is the Prado Museum’s Mona Lisa, which is a near-contemporary workshop copy associated with Leonardo’s studio—not the original Louvre painting. Leonardo himself was also a sculptor, engineer, scientist, and anatomist, but the Mona Lisa remains his most famous artwork.