This Day In History: The Mona Lisa was stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia, a Louvre employee, on this day 1911. It is easy to look at the Mona Lisa painting and wonder what all the fuss is about. One explanation is: "The subject’s softly sculptural face shows Leonardo’s skillful handling of sfumato, an artistic technique that uses subtle gradations of light and shadow to model form, and shows his understanding of the skull beneath the skin. The delicately painted veil, the finely wrought tresses, and the careful rendering of folded fabric reveal Leonardo’s studied observations and inexhaustible patience. And, although the sitter’s steady gaze and restrained smile were not regarded as mysterious until the 19th century, viewers today can appreciate her equivocal expression. Leonardo painted a complex figure that is very much like a complicated human."~Alicja Zelazko
Did you know that the Mona Lisa painting is also rather small, only 30 inches by 21 inches and weighs 18 pounds. This painting has also inspired a few deaths. "In 1852, an artist named Luc Maspero supposedly threw himself from the fourth floor of a Parisian hotel, leaving a suicide note that read: 'For years I have grappled desperately with her smile. I prefer to die.' In 1910, one enamored fan came before her solely to shoot himself as he looked upon her."~Kristy Puchko
Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa has the highest ever insurance value for a painting. The Mona Lisa was assessed at US$100 million on December 14, 1962. Taking inflation into account, the 1962 value would be around US$850 million in 2019. Some have suggested that she might even be worth 2.5 billion dollars.
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