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The Guardian - UK

Lifestyle

Jonathan Jones

A killer’s muse, a goddess, or actually a man? … 10 things you need to know about the Mona Lisa

Leonardo da Vinci Mona da Vinci Henry VIII Marcel Duchamp Hans Holbein Cristina Madonna

Does it reference Leonardo’s plan to divert a river? … the Mona Lisa, a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo. — Does it reference Leonardo’s plan to divert a river? … the Mona Lisa, a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo. Photograph: World History Archive/Alamy

If you want to publicise a cause or gain infamy by vandalising a work of art, then you may as well pick on the most famous of all. When pumpkin soup was hurled at the bullet-proof glass protecting Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa in the Louvre at the weekend, pictures of the painting obscured by gobs of liquefied food duly appeared across the world. But why is the Mona Lisa so famous anyway? Here are 10 things you need to know about the most idolised painting on Earth.

Mona Who?

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