The Mona Lisa was also known as La Gioconda, the wife of Franceso del Giocondo. It was painted between the 1479- 1528 and it is a realistic painting in the Renaissance style. A very well known painter, Leonardo da Vinci, painted this painting. The Mona Lisa was done on oil on wood background. This figure of a woman, dressed in the Florentine fashion of her day and seated in a visionary, mountainous landscape, is a remarkable instance of Leonardo's sfumato technique of soft, heavily shaded modeling. The Mona Lisa's enigmatic expression, which seems both alluring and aloof, has given the portrait universal fame. I think the dark colors in the background and on Mona Lisa balance the painting out. The emphasis in the painting is Mona Lisa’s skin mainly her face. Also I like how he uses dark colors in his painting because it makes it more life like. He loved the portrait so much so that he always carried it with him until eventually in France it was sold to François I, either by Leonardo or by Melzi. One special thing that Leonardo da Vinci did with Mona Lisa is Sfumato and chiardscuro. Sfumato is the famous invention of Da Vinci - light and shade that allow one form to blend in with another leaving something to the imagination. He did this to the corners of Mona Lisa' mouth and eyes which explains why she may look different and different times. Chiaroscuro is the distribution of light and shade in a picture. Mona Lisa has been stolen a number of times but now the Mona Lisa is protected by a formidable railing, bulletproof glass and in her own room at the Louvre.