What was the name of the French king who purchased the Mona Lisa?

King Francis I of France purchased or acquired the Mona Lisa after Leonardo da Vinci’s death. Leonardo brought the painting to France after accepting Francis’s invitation in 1516, and the work entered the French royal collection soon afterward.

Leonardo died at the Château du Clos Lucé near Amboise in 1519. Accounts differ over the precise transaction and timing, but Francis I is the French king traditionally credited with acquiring the portrait. It was later kept at royal residences including Fontainebleau and Versailles.

The painting eventually became state property during the French Revolution and entered the Louvre’s permanent display in 1797. A common mix-up is Louis XIV, who also owned or displayed major royal artworks, but he lived more than a century after Francis I and was not the monarch who acquired Leonardo’s portrait.