Unit 51 The Mona Lisa

G: What are you looking at, Billy?

B: This is a copy of my favorite painting.

It's the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. G: Why is that your favorite painting?

B: Well, there are a few things that make the Mona Lisa great.

First, she has no eyebrows. Second, she has a really beautiful smile. Most of all, I like the soft colors of the painting. Have you seen the Mona Lisa before? It is a very famous painting! G: Of course!

I've seen the painting a few times before. But I never noticed that her eyebrows are missing. I wonder why she has no eyebrows. Do you know why? B: At the time da Vinci painted it, it was fashionable for young Italian girls to shave off their eyebrows.

Every girl wanted to be fashionable. G: Wow!

That's really interesting! In what year was the Mona Lisa painted? B: I think it was painted sometime between 1503 and 1505.

G: I wonder what a modern Mona Lisa would look like.

B: She might have purple hair!