The Mona Lisa was created by Leonardo da Vinci, likely painted between 1503 and 1506 in Florence, Italy, with some scholars proposing that he continued working on it in later years. The painting is traditionally identified as Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Florentine merchant Francesco del Giocondo, and it has since become one of the most celebrated and studied works of art in the world. After Leonardo’s death, the work eventually entered French royal collection and has been housed at the Louvre in Paris for most of its modern history.