Mona Lisa

The Mona Lisa was Earth's most famous painting. It was painted (multiple times) by Leonardo da Vinci.

History
Da Vinci started painting the original piece in 1503. It was originally a commission. (COMIC: Art Attack) He was still working on the piece in 1505, and according to one source his model for the painting was Clara Oswald. The Twelfth Doctor speculated and remarked that da Vinci hadn't captured her likeness well but had captured her smirk. They were called away on a mission and left the painting with da Vinci. (COMIC: The Swords of Kali)

Later that year, Scaroth of the Jagaroth, posing as a human known as Captain Tancredi, commissioned da Vinci to paint at least six duplicate copies of the Mona Lisa. (TV: City of Death) Da Vinci had to borrow oil paint from Giuseppe di Cattivo, his neighbour, to finish the paintings, but this paint was in fact part of a sentient meteorite that di Cattivo had recovered. (TV: Mona Lisa's Revenge)

Da Vinci carried the original painting around with him for many years, despite it being a commission. He eventually had to sell it to King Francis in 1516, which the Ninth Doctor claimed "broke his heart." (COMIC: Art Attack)

In 1770, the Mona Lisa was in the Palace of Versailles. (AUDIO: Masquerade)

While the Fourth Doctor did not destroy the six "forgeries" (if, in fact, they could be considered forgeries, since they were all painted by da Vinci), he did ensure that future X-ray machines would be able to discover their provenance by writing "THIS IS A FAKE" on the blank boards each of the fakes would be painted on, and leaving a note in mirrored writing for da Vinci apologising for the state of the canvases and telling him to just paint over the words.



The six "fakes" were sealed away in a secret cellar room inside a house in Paris until 1979. At some point, the "original" of the seven paintings came to hang in the Louvre gallery, also in Paris.

In 1979, Scaroth, posing as Count Scarlioni, stole the one known copy from the Louvre, intending to sell all seven in an attempt to raise money to fund his time travel research. Before they could be sold off, a fire destroyed all but one of the "fakes". It was this Mona Lisa that was returned to the Louvre. Duggan later bought a postcard of the Mona Lisa from a gift shop at the top of the Eiffel Tower. (TV: City of Death)

The Seventh Doctor had one of the copies of the Mona Lisa in his art gallery on board the TARDIS. (AUDIO: Dust Breeding) In 2009, the Mona Lisa was lent by the Louvre to the International Gallery in London. Because di Cattivo's work, The Abomination, also painted with the sentient meteor, was nearby, Mona Lisa reanimated in human form and made her way out of the frame, replacing herself with Phyllis Trupp. She animated a Sontaran blaster from a painting by Clyde Langer and, along with her number one fan, Lionel Harding, went about to find The Abomination. She put various policemen and Sarah Jane Smith into paintings, while she animated The Dark Rider to take care of Clyde, Luke Smith and Rani Chandra. By the time Mona Lisa found the Abomination, she realised that to set him free, she needed di Cattivo's Chinese Puzzle Box, which Harding destroyed. Clyde was made to draw another Puzzle Box, which she animated. Just as the Abomination rose, Luke used her energy to animate Clyde's drawing of K9, who destroyed the Abomination, therefore returning Mona Lisa to her rightful place, inside her frame, where she would remain forever. (TV: Mona Lisa's Revenge) As late as December 2009, the painting had been returned to the Louvre. (COMIC: A Date to Remember)

Despite Paris being destroyed in 2086 by the Ice Warriors, (PROSE: Transit) the painting clearly survived, since at some point during the 51st century, the Doctor helped carry the Mona Lisa up Mount Everest on a camel to preserve it from a war. (PROSE: The Art of Destruction)

There were at least thirteen other copies of the Mona Lisa held by UNIT in the Underbase in Sydney, Australia. (COMIC: The Age of Ice)

At some point in the future, a recreation of Paris called Perfect Paris was made as an example of the perfect city. In the city's version of the Louvre hung a replica of the Mona Lisa. (COMIC: A Date to Remember)

The Monk had stole a copy of the Mona Lisa for his collection during the second Dalek invasion of Earth. (AUDIO: Lucie Miller)

A copy of the Mona Lisa, made of fabric or paper rather than the wooden panels the genuine articles were painted on, was seen in an art gallery on Apalapucia. It was destroyed when Rory Williams hit a handbot over the head with it. (TV: The Girl Who Waited)

Another copy of some kind was held in the Eleventh Doctor's TARDIS. (COMIC: The One)