Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian polymath born in 1452 who is considered one of the greatest painters of all time due to works like the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, and The Vitruvian Man. The Mona Lisa, painted between 1503-1506, is one of the most famous works of art in the world and resides at the Louvre in Paris. It was stolen in 1911 but recovered two years later. The identity of the woman in the painting and Leonardo's intentions remain topics of speculation among scholars.

2. LEONARDO DA VINCI
Leonardo di ser Piero daVinci (15 April 1452 – 2 May 1519) was
an Italian polymath, painter, sculptor, architect, musician,
mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist,
geologist, cartographer,botanist, and writer. He is widely
considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time and
perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived.
LIFE
Leonardo was born on 15 April 1452, "at the third hour of the
night"[nb in theTuscan hill town of Vinci.
 Leonardo had no surname in the modern sense, "da Vinci"
simply meaning "of Vinci": his full birth name was "Lionardo di
ser Piero daVinci", meaning "Leonardo, (son) of (Mes)ser Piero
from Vinci“.

3. Little is known about Leonardo's early life. He spent his first five
years in the hamlet of Anchiano in the home of his mother
then from 1457 he lived in the household of his father,
grandparents and uncle, Francesco, in the small town of Vinci. His
father had married a sixteen-year-old girl named Albiera, who
loved Leonardo but died young.When Leonardo was sixteen his
father married again, to twenty-year-old Francesca Lanfredini. It
was not until his third and fourth marriages that Ser Piero produced
legitimate heirs.
Leonardo received an informal education in Latin, geometry and
mathematics.
In later life, Leonardo recorded only two childhood incidents.
One, which he regarded as an omen, was when a kite dropped from
the sky and hovered over his cradle, its tail feathers brushing his
face.[13] The second occurred while he was exploring in the
mountains: he discovered a cave and was both terrified that some
great monster might lurk there and driven by curiosity to find out
what was inside.

4. Leonardo was, and is, renowned primarily as a painter.
Notable work(s): The Mona Lisa
The Last Supper
The Vitruvian Man
The Lady with an Ermine

5. MONA LISA
The Mona Lisa is a half-length
portrait of a woman which has
been acclaimed as "the best
known, the most visited, the most
written about, the most sung
about, the most parodied work of
art in the world“.
The painting, thought to be a
portrait of Lisa Gherardini, the
wife of Francesco, is in oil on a
white Lombardy , and is believed
to have been painted between
1503 and 1506, although Leonardo
may have continued working on it
as late as 1517. It was acquired by
King Francis I of France and is now
the property of the French
Republic, on permanent display
at The Louvre museum
in Paris since 1797.

6. Theft and vandalism
The painting's fame was emphasized when it was stolen on 21 August 1911.
The next day, Louis Béroud, a painter, walked into the Louvre and went to the
Salon Carré where the Mona Lisa had been on display for five years. However,
where the Mona Lisa should have stood, he found four iron pegs. Béroud
contacted the section head of the guards, who thought the painting was being
photographed for marketing purposes.
A few hours later, Béroud checked back with the section head of the museum,
and it was confirmed that the Mona Lisa was not with the photographers. The
Louvre was closed for an entire week to aid in investigation of the theft. French
poet Guillaume Apollinaire, who had once called for the Louvre to be "burnt
down", came under suspicion; he was arrested and imprisoned. Apollinaire tried
to implicate his friend Pablo Picasso, who was also brought in for questioning,
but both were later exonerated.
At the time, the painting was believed to be lost forever, and it was two years
before the real thief was discovered. Louvre employee Vincenzo Peruggia had
stolen it by entering the building during regular hours, hiding in a broom closet
and walking out with it hidden under his coat after the museum had closed.

7. Value
It is believed that Francis I bought Mona Lisa in 1504 or 1506 for $9,200. Among
works in the Louvre, in 1852 its market value was 90,000 francs compared to works
by Raphael valued at up to 600,000 francs. In 1913, it was reported that the English
government offered $5 million for the painting, the highest estimate of its value at
that time
Speculation
Although the sitter has traditionally been identified as Lisa del Giocondo, a lack of
definitive evidence has long fueled alternative theories, including Leonardo's
mother Caterina in a distant memory and the possibility that Leonardo used his
own likeness. Other aspects of the painting that have been subject to speculation
are the original size of the painting, whether it is the original, why it was painted,
and various explanations for how the effect of an enigmatic smile was achieved.