[imagesource: Christie’s Images Ltd]

The Mona Lisa, housed in the Louvre in Paris, has had a fair share of copies floating around since it was painted by Leonardo da Vinci in the 15th century.

The most famous of those copies has got to be the Hekking Mona Lisa, named after its previous owner, the antiquarian Raymond Hekking (1886-1977).

Believe it or not, this replica of da Vinci’s masterpiece was sold recently in an auction at Christie’s in Paris to a European collector who agreed to pay a whopping $3,4 million (around R48 million).

According to Forbes, this is 10 to 15 times more than the auction house had estimated and the most ever paid for a fake Mona Lisa.

I guess the allure of the famous smiling lady is so good it doesn’t even matter if it is fake.

Here’s more from The Art Newspaper:

The replica was once owned by Hekking, who insisted in the 1960s that his depiction of the Mona Lisa is the real thing rather than the bonafide work on show at the Louvre.

The work, consigned by the heirs of Hekking, is attributed to “Italian school, early 17th-century, follower of Leonardo da Vinci”.

Several copies were made from the 17th century onwards, attesting to the painting’s “great aura”, says an essay in the Christie’s catalogue.

Hekking believed his painting was the original, and that a fake painting was returned to the Louvre after the original was stolen in 1914.

It’s believed the fake was painted by an unknown Italian artist at some point during the 17th century.

Meanwhile, the real Mona Lisa might get eaten by Jeff Bezos if an online petition carries on gathering steam.

Forbes notes that if Bezos obliges and buys the Mona Lisa, his bid may break the world record for the most expensive artwork.

Currently, the title belongs to another da Vinci painting, the Salvator Mundi, sold in 2016 for $450 million at Christie’s in New York.

Paying to eat a world-famous painting almost makes more sense than paying so much for a fake.

Almost.

[sources:theartnewspaper&forbes]