"The Mona Lisa is widely recognized as one of the greatest paintings in the history of art. In 2003, the 500th anniversary of the painting, it will become the only work in the Louvre to occupy its own room. But the picture has also become an object of popular culture and consumption. Its image is used to sell everything from chocolate to champagne to automobiles, and appears on ashtrays, mouse pads, and T-shirts.

More than any other art object, the Mona Lisa demonstrates that something can be high art and pop, classic and cool.".

"Donald Sassoon provides an account of how the painting became what it is today. He examines how the Renaissance genius created the picture, who the subject was, why it gained its unrivalled position in the art world, and how it has come to be used and abused by other artists and the international advertising industry. Tracing the reception of da Vinci's paintings as well as the development of museums essential to bringing art to a broad public.

Sassoon's elegant narrative is as much the story of serious art's popularization as it is the story of one painting's ascendance to the status of global icon."--BOOK JACKET.