Mona Lisa Smile Diamond Necklace

In a new book, The Thefts of the Mona Lisa: The Complete Story of the World’s Most Famous Artwork,” the art historian, Noah Charney, unpicks the robbery, throwing new light on why and how Vincenzo Peruggia, a museum employee, stole the painting only for it to be recovered two years later when he tried to sell it to an antique dealer in Florence called Alfredo Geri. (© Gareth Harris)

Mona Lisa at the Louvre Museum in Paris

Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa may be one of the most beloved artworks in the world. Seen by millions of people each year. It is considered to be the crown jewel of the Louvre’s collection, an iconic work of the Renaissance.

Part of the reason the Mona Lisa is known worldwide is because of its theft in 1911 by the Italian handyman, Vincenzo Peruggia. That year, Peruggia and two others stowed themselves away in a closet of the Louvre, hung around until the museum closed, and then took the painting, which at the time was considered a minor work by Leonardo, with them, hopping on a train out of Paris. As the theft gained more and more press, both within France and outside it, Peruggia held on to the work, at one point stashing it beneath the footboards of his Paris apartment. A little over two years after the theft, Peruggia made an attempt to sell the work to a dealer in Florence in an attempt, he believed, to bring back to Italy a treasure that it had lost. The proposed sale backfired when the dealer called the director of the Uffizi Galleries. (© Alex Greenberger)

Leonardo da Vinci
The Mona Lisa

The Mona Lisa, an oil painting on a poplar wood panel by Leonardo da Vinci, is the world’s most famous painting. It was painted sometime between 1503 and 1519 when Leonardo was living in Florence. It now hangs in the Louvre Museum in Paris, where it remained an object of pilgrimage in the 21st century. The sitter’s mysterious smile and her unproven identity have made the painting a source of ongoing investigation and fascination.

The Secret Behind Mona Lisa’s Smile

The Mona Lisa is perhaps the most widely recognized, captivating, and enigmatic painting in the world. The artist Leonardo da Vinci died over 500 years ago, but his work still commands the world’s attention and is the subject of ongoing speculation surrounding his subject, especially her smile.

I’ve long been enthralled by da Vinci and his work, but I have a newfound admiration for this masterpiece after recently reading a fascinating passage from Glennon Doyle’s bestselling book, ‘Untamed”, which focuses on this renowned face.

Doyle wrote that while visiting the Mona Lisa room at the Louvre Museum, she was approached by a random woman who offered to share a theory. Doyle recounted what she was told:

“Mona Lisa and her husband lost a baby. Sometime later, her husband commissioned this painting from da Vinci to celebrate the birth of another baby. Mona Lisa sat for Leonardo to paint her, but she wouldn’t smile during the sitting. Not all the way. The story goes that da Vinci wanted her to smile wider, but she refused. She did not want the joy she felt for her new baby to erase the pain she felt from losing (one prior)”

There Are 11 Diamonds
In The Mona Lisa Smiles Necklace
The Number 11 Holds Special Significance in Numerology

The number 11 is a master number signifying intuition and enlightenment. It represents a new beginning, the start of a new phase of life, or the imminence of positive events.

Balance:
The number 11 is said to represent balance and encourage people to maintain harmony in their thoughts, actions, and relationships. It’s thought to contain both sun and moon energy and signal a need to balance emotions, thoughts, spirits, masculine and feminine aspects, and work and play.

Creativity:
The number 11 is said to represent creativity. People with the number 11 in their numerology charts are profound creatives who feel most fulfilled when they balance analytics and art. Their souls are thought to express the qualities of both independence and drive, as well as grace and love.

With 11 diamonds, the hardest substance in the universe, this necklace holds many powerful symbols.

Portland Museum of Art Collections
The Mona Lisa

Forty years ago, the Portland Museum of Art had a special unveiling of a Mona Lisa and what they believed had been one of four done by Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo often did a practice painting before working on the official painting. At the time of the showing in the early 1980s I believe the painting had been gifted to them. I attended their showing. I was a bit disappointed with how dusty and old the painting appeared to be. It was a subdued, ghostly grey.

My reaction may have been somewhat a measure of my lack of sophistication. I was expecting something so much more grand. It would be several years before I saw the original Mona Lisa at the Louvre. Even though the colors were brighter, again, I was disappointed. The Mona Lisa is considered the most important painting in the world the enigmatic smile plays a huge part in the worldwide popularity and appeal of this painting.