1500- Florence, Italy- A great painting is born.

Here in Florence, 1500, Leonardo created his most famous art piece, the Mona Lisa or "la Gioconda", the laughing one. It’s fame rests, in particular, on the smile on the women’s face. The way the painting was painted was so the exact nature of the smile cannot be determined. Vasari, who is generally thought to have known the painting only by repute, said that "the smile was so pleasing that it seemed divine rather than human; and those who saw it were amazed to find that it was as alive as the original”. He also stated the opinion that the manner of painting would make even "the most confident master ... despair and lose heart. The perfect state of preservation and the fact that there is no sign of repair or over painting is extremely rare in a panel painting of this date.”