Who painted the Mona Lisa, housed in the Louvre?

Who painted the Mona Lisa, housed in the Louvre? Leonardo da Vinci painted it.

The Mona Lisa is a half-length portrait created by the Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci. It is painted in oil on a poplar panel and measures about 77 by 53 centimetres. The sitter is traditionally identified as Lisa del Giocondo, the wife of a Florentine merchant; the Italian title La Gioconda refers to her married name.

Leonardo probably began the portrait around 1503 and may have continued refining it for years, possibly into 1516 or 1517. He took it with him when he moved to France, and King Francis I acquired it after Leonardo’s death in 1519. The painting entered the Louvre’s permanent display in 1797.

A common mix-up is confusing the artist with Michelangelo or Raphael, both major Renaissance contemporaries. The Mona Lisa’s fame also comes from its enigmatic expression, Leonardo’s subtle sfumato technique, and its sensational theft from the Louvre in 1911. It was recovered in Italy in 1913 and returned to Paris the following year.