I feel that my favorite painting (Ms. Joshua Montgomery Sears) is superior to the Mona Lisa in more ways then one. I feel that the Mona Lisa is hyped up, it is not really all that great. If you notice, the inequality of the background provides a strong contestant with Mona for the Emphasis of the piece. Her smile is also a question. Why is she smiling? The da Vinci Code offers a good analysis of the work. It supposes that, as da Vinci was the president, at one time, of the secret society (that actually exists), the inequality in the background is actually showing that female is more important than male. It also surmises that the name comes from anagrammed names of Sex / Love gods: Amon, and L'isa. One of the reasons that the Mona Lisa is so well known is the fact that she was stolen, and than returned, to the Louvre. Because of this, she became known the world over, rather than just being known, as an okay painting, by art 'freaks'.