Musée du Louvre, Paris - Why is the Mona Lisa is hanging there?

Because the Musée du Louvre, Paris, home of the most famous painting in the world, as painted in Italy by an Italian artist?

There is nothing unusual works of art that moved the world and the Louvre contains a selection of other Italian paintings - by Mantegna, Bellini, Caravaggio and Titian.

There is no doubt about the origins of this Italian masterpiece. Painted in Florence in the Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci eclectic, sometimes it isItalian known as "La Gioconda". It is believed that a painting of Lisa del Giocondo, a member of the Gherardini family, Francesco del Giocondo, being married to a wealthy Florentine silk merchant. So there's not much mystery about the origin of the name "La Gioconda" and part "Lisa" in the name of the image. With regard to the "Mona", this is certainly a corruption of the Italian "But Donna," which means "My Lady."

But in the eyes of many, there is a mysterious air and for unspecifiedPainting. The adjective used to describe the painting "enigma". The background of the painting is not particularly relevant for Italy, made them an imaginary landscape, with mountains in the background. Where there is evidence of Italian civilization? But there is a small bridge and some trails to be seen.

La Gioconda is in the Musée du Louvre, in particular, because the painting of Leonardo took to France with him in 1516 and eventually ended up inLouvre after the French Revolution.

A hundred years ago, in August 1911 to be exact, the Mona Lisa is a loss of repression, was stolen from Louvre employee Vincenzo Perugia. The thief in a closet before closing, and went away with the painting hidden under his coat. His motive? argue more as a fan of the Elgin Marbles that they should be returned to Greece, it was believed that the painting be returned to their country of origin.Peruggia detonated his life two years later he tried to sell it to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Once issued in Italy, the Mona Lisa at the Louvre was back in 1913 and is still produced by the French state-owned. Peruggia off lightly with a sentence of six months in prison.