We've all seen that famous smile a thousand times. It graces the face of La Gioconda, or the Mona Lisa, created by Leonardo da Vinci around 1505. Five centures later, her mysterious smile has reached celebrity status. Da Vinci today is in the public eye like no other artist. Yet few of us know the compelling story of this priceless world treasure - how she was created; her impact on other artists; the story of her theft; and how, through a mix of luck, history, and her own innate beauty, she came to be regarded as the world's greatest painting.In this engaging story - told largely in pictures and presented in a unique format - acclaimed historian and Mona Lisa scholar Donald Sassoon offers us an intimate look at the painting's history and the genius who gave the Mona Lisa lasting life.

Donald Sassoon is perhaps the world's leading expert on the Mona Lisa. He is the author of Becoming Mona Lisa: The Making of a Global Icon. Currently a professor of comparative European history at the Unversity of London, Sassoon was educated in Paris, Milan, London, and the United States.