After 519 years, the Mona Lisa is still known as the most famous piece of artwork in the world, as well as one of the most protected and expensive.

However, it wasn’t always famous or protected.

First, some insights:

The painting is believed to be a portrait of noblewoman Lisa del Gherardini, who was born in Florence, Italy. The famous painting was commissioned by her husband, Francesco del Giocondo, a moderately poor silk merchant who was also raised in Florence. And yes, her eyes do ‘follow you’ around — more on that later.

Giocondo commissioned Leonardo da Vinci, who had recently finished painting "The Last Supper" at the monastery of Santa Maria Delle Grazie in Milan, Italy, to paint the portrait of Lisa. Some say the painting was commissioned to welcome the couple’s firstborn son.

One of the reasons she is widely regarded as a masterpiece is that da Vinci used a painting technique known as sfumato (this means smoke in Italian). The process is defined as applying paint/pigment in very thin layers and waiting for the paint to dry before adding more layers. Da Vinci would do this several hundred times.

The other reason she is so special is that da Vinci used a method called Silberblick, which translates to Silver Gaze in German. Silberblick can be defined as an optical illusion that makes it seem like the eyes of the image follow you around.

The painting was ‘finished’ in 1507, but da Vinci would continue adding to the piece until he died. In 1517, King Francis I invited da Vinci to France and the painter brought the work with him.

Two years later, da Vinci died. His assistant, Salai, inherited the painting and subsequently sold it to King Francis I for 4,000 gold coins.

Still, the painting hadn’t garnered global attention. It was hung in the Apartement des Bains in the palace at Fontainebleau, where it remained until King Louis XIV moved the painting to the Palace of Versailles.

Following the French Revolution, the painting was moved to the Louvre.

The masterpiece would lay dormant for more than 350 years. In the 1860s, critics praised the piece as a masterwork of the Renaissance.

The Only Theft

In 1911, Mona disappeared from the Lourve. Pablo Picasso, another world-renowned painter, was on the list of suspects.

The piece would be missing for more than two years and was thought to be gone forever. In 1913, an ex-employee of the Lourve, Vincenzo Perugia, was caught with the painting in his apartment after trying to sell it to a gallery in Florence. He and two others hid in a closet at the Lourve, waited until the museum closed, and took the artwork.

Perugia said he believed the painting belonged to Italy.

Damages, Travels, and Vandalizations

The Mona Lisa was evacuated throughout both world wars for fear of being bombed. It moved ten times between September 27, 1938, and June 17, 1945, hidden in a crate labelled "MNLP No. 0," which stood for "National Museum of the Louvre Paintings No. 0."

It was reinstalled in the Louvre on June 15, 1945.

1956 - The Rock, The Razor Blade, and The Acid

1956 was a rough year for Mona; first, someone attempted to cut the painting with a razor blade, claiming to be in love with it. No damage was done to the piece.

Later, a vandal hurled acid at the artwork while it was displayed in Montauban, France, ruining the lower section of the masterpiece.

This is the event that prompted Mona Lisa's encasement in glass.

That same year, a man named Hugo Unjaga Villegas hurdled a rock at the painting. He was quoted saying, “I had a stone in my pocket, and suddenly the idea to throw it came to mind,” while the painting had already been covered by protective glass, the rock sent shatters flying which chipped off a speck of paint near her lower arm, just above her elbow.

The French state repaired the damage and returned it to display shortly after.

1974 - Tokyo

In 1974 the Mona Lisa was approved to travel to National Museum in Tokyo to be displayed. More than 1.5 million people arrived to view the piece; though, a young woman named Tomoko Yonezu had other plans.

Since so many people showed up to view the masterpiece, Japanese officials did not offer assistance to the disabled to view the piece, citing crowd control.

Yonezu accused the museum of discriminating against the disabled; from there, she used red spray paint in an attempt to damage the art. With some success, 20 to 30 droplets of red paint landed on the piece.

Her protest was not in vain; the museum set aside one day for the disabled to view the work.

2009 - Louvre

After being denied Frech citizenship, an unnamed Russian woman concealed a ceramic tea cup in her purse and tossed it at the protective glass, shattering the cup and leaving the artwork undamaged.

“The woman threw an empty cup at the Mona Lisa, but there was no damage as the cup smashed when it hit the screen protecting the painting,” said Louvre spokesman David Madec.

2022 - Louvre

In May, in an apparent protest against climate change, a man smeared cake on the protective glass surrounding La Gioconda. The man responsible entered the Louvre in a wheelchair, dressed as a woman, before taking his costume off to smear the beloved painting.

The piece was undamaged.

So, How Much Is She Worth?

In 1962, the Mona Lisa was insured for $100 million. Taking 2022 inflation into account, that would be worth around $967.87 million today.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons