Mona Lisa Socks

Da Vinci painted the portrait in 1503 when he was already well-known, although not wealthy, so it's agreed that Mona Lisa was a commissioned work, but was never delivered to the person who ordered it. Da Vinci was the original Renaissance Man, a master artist, a skilled engineer, an inventor and a scientist, but not a skilled bill collector.

That didn’t matter, as his geniality had been noticed by King François I, who in 1518 bought the painting directly. The Palace of Fontainebleau was now Mona Lisa’s address. However, Louis XVI, a passionate patron of the arts, moved it to the Versailles. There, Mona Lisa lived a quiet life, up until the French Revolution, during which she was taken to her present home, the Louvre.

On display there since 1979, except for a famous adventure in 1911, when she mysteriously disappeared. For two years the authorities had no clue where she’d gone. Until one day, an art dealer was offered a special painting by a gentleman who, incidentally, worked at the Louvre as a glazier…

Gioconda’s return was highly celebrated, and her notoriety grew significantly. It is by far the most valuable work of art in the world. She’s been studied, imitated, satirized, attacked, and even ripped by someone who claimed to be in love, and wanted to take her home! We can’t really blame him for being star-struck.