Leonardo DaVinci painted the Mona Lisa on a piece of pinewood, 77 x 53 cm (30 x 20 7/8 in) in the year 1506.

Today the painting hangs in the Musee du Louvre, Paris, France. DaVinci's name for the painting was La Gioconda. Named for the wife of Francesco del Giocondo; 1503-06

Who posed for the painting? Dr. Lillian Schwartz of Bell Labs suggests that Leonardo painted himself, and was able to support her theory by analyzing the facial features of Leonardo's face and that of the famous painting, She digitized both the self-portrait of the artist and the Mona Lisa. She flipped the self-portrait and merged the two images together using a computer. She noticed the features of the face aligned perfectly.