Mona Lisa: The History of the World's Most Famous Painting (Revised) (Story of the Best-Known Painting in the World) by Donald Sassoon

   For nearly 500 years the painting - and the mysterious smile on the face of the sitter - has been a source of mystery, speculation and reverence. In this groundbreaking book Donald Sassoon describes not only the Mona Lisa and its history, but its mythology, and the processes which combined to raise it to its current unrivalled level of fame. He examines Leonardo's innovative techniques; the problems concerning the identity of the sitter; what happened to the painting after it left Italy when Leonardo joined King François I's court in France; the copies made in the 17th century; its celebration by 19th-century intellectuals; its theft and disappearance early in the 20th century; the surrealists', other avant-garde artists' and cartoonists' uses of it; its appropriation by the advertising industry; and the never-ending flood of new and 'conclusive' theories about Mona Lisa's smile.