Leonardo da Vinci, officially known as Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci which means Leonardo son of Piero from the hill town called Vinci, was born on the 15th of April 1452. Besides painting he was also a scientist and inventor.

Self portrait of Leonardo da Vinci

One of the best know portraits from the renaissance is the Mona Lisa. It was painted by Leonardo da Vinci between 1503 and 1517. Leonardo often changed the painting. Lisa del Giocondo was a member of the Gherardini family of Florence and Tuscany, and the wife of wealthy Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo and she is the woman on the painting. It was acquired by King Francis I of France and is now at permanent display at the Louvre in Paris since 1797. In 1911 the painting was stolen from the Louvre by Vincenzo Peruggia and recovered in 1914. Vincenzo did it because he believed the painting belonged to Italy. 

There are some hidden secrets in the painting like many works of Da Vinci. Behind the right pupil are the letters L and V, Leonardo's initials. Her left pupil also has letters but it is unclear if these are B and S or C and E. Also the number 72 or L2 is found under the bridge behind the woman. 

Devil's Bridge in Bobbia

The landscape is said to be Val di Chiana, a valley along the river Arno in central Italy but could also be the town of Bobbio in Northern Italy where a bridge is located resembling the one on the paiting. It's often called the devil's bridge and was build in the time of the Romans.

Bridge on the Mona Lisa

A by now false claim is that on the left and right side there are columns hidden behind the frame the painting is framed in. After a research when the painting was taken out of its frame no signs of columns were found.

Original Mona Lisa by Da Vinci
In the time Da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa it was also painted by his students. So there could be more copies of the painting. Only one was discovered in the collection of the Prado in Madrid and is now displayed there. Until today the artist of that copy is unkown.
Copy from the same time Da Vinci painted it by unkown artist

Many painters made their parody version of the Mona Lisa. First by Sapeck in 1883 who painted his "Le Rire" which was a Mona Lisa smoking a pipe. Then in 1919 Marcel Duchamps painted his L.H.O.O.Q. and many variations with a moustache and a beard. 

LHOOQ by Marcel Duchamps
Then in 1973 Salvador Dali did the same again with his own typical moustache. 
Mona Lisa by Salvador Dali 
Popart genius Andy Warhol made his interpretation with colored Mona Lisa in 1963 and also some more variations.
Colored Mona Lisa by Andy Warhol