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The Mona Lisa measures only about 77 by 53 centimetres (30 by 21 inches), smaller than many visitors expect. Leonardo da Vinci painted it in oils on a panel of poplar wood, not on canvas, starting around 1503.

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In the Louvre it hangs in the Salle des États, the museum's largest room, behind bulletproof glass in a case kept at a steady temperature and humidity. Across the room hangs Paolo Veronese's The Wedding at Cana, almost 10 metres wide and the largest painting in the Louvre, which makes the portrait look smaller still. The sitter is traditionally identified as Lisa del Giocondo, the wife of a Florentine silk merchant. Leonardo kept working on the picture for years and never delivered it to the family who had commissioned it; it ended up in the collection of King Francis I of France. Its worldwide fame grew enormously after Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian who had worked at the Louvre, stole it in 1911; it was found in Florence in 1913.

Türkçe oku
Mona Lisa yalnızca 77 × 53 santimetre kadardır; çoğu ziyaretçi onu daha büyük sanır. Leonardo da Vinci tabloyu 1503 dolaylarında, tuvale değil kavak tahtasından bir pano üzerine yağlı boyayla yapmaya başladı.

Tablo Louvre'da, müzenin en büyük salonu olan Salle des États'da, sıcaklığı ve nemi sabit tutulan, kurşun geçirmez camlı bir vitrinde sergilenir. Karşı duvarda Louvre'un en büyük resmi asılıdır: Paolo Veronese'nin yaklaşık 10 metre genişliğindeki “Kana'daki Düğün” tablosu, portreyi olduğundan da küçük gösterir. Portredeki kadının, Floransalı bir ipek tüccarının karısı Lisa del Giocondo olduğu kabul edilir. Leonardo tablo üzerinde yıllarca çalıştı ve onu siparişi veren aileye hiç teslim etmedi; tablo sonunda Fransa Kralı I. François'nın koleksiyonuna girdi. Dünya çapındaki ünü, bir zamanlar Louvre'da çalışmış İtalyan Vincenzo Peruggia'nın onu 1911'de çalmasından sonra büyük ölçüde arttı; tablo 1913'te Floransa'da bulundu.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Mona Lisa
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