The "Mona Lisa" is famous all over the world for her enigmatic smile and for being one of the few paintings by the most esteemed of the Renaissance masters, Leonardo da Vinci. The work is owned by the Government of France and is displayed in the Louvre in Paris, France with the title Portrait of "Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo." The painting, with its haunting landscape, is perhaps the most famous and iconic painting in the world. A traditional Renaissance portrait in composition, its beauty lies in the oil painting technique (known as 'sfumato') created by Leonardo, which allowed the artist to execute subtle, atmospheric shading that was impossible to produce with the egg-based tempera paint used by contemporary artists. Da Vinci used a pyramid design to place the woman simply and calmly in the space of the painting. Her folded hands form the front corner of the pyramid. Her breast, neck and face glow in the same light that models her hands. The light gives the variety of living surfaces an underlying geometry of spheres and circles. Da Vinci referred to a seemingly simple formula for seated female figure: the images of seated Madonna, which were widespread at the time. It is probably the most famous painting that has ever been stolen from the Louvre and recovered. Few other works of art have been subject to as much scrutiny, study, mythologizing, and parody. A charcoal and graphite study of the Mona Lisa attributed to Leonardo is in the Hyde Collection, in Glens Falls, NY.
