The smile lasts four centuries and still refuses to explain itself. Leonardo da Vinci finished the portrait around 1517, yet every year millions stand in front of the small poplar […]
Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Home Inside the Louvre
In 1516 François I offered Leonardo a house near Amboise. The artist brought three paintings with him: the Mona Lisa, the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, and Saint John […]
Views from the Rooftop That Only Employees Usually See
The public is not allowed on the Louvre’s roofs, which is why the view remains one of Paris’s best-kept secrets. From the zinc slopes above the Cour Carrée you look […]
Napoleon’s Trophies That Remained in the Louvre Forever
When Napoleon marched across Europe, art followed his armies home. By 1810 the Louvre had become the largest museum on earth, renamed Musée Napoléon for good measure. Most loot went […]