Possibly the most famous portrait in the history of art, Leonardo da Vinci’s ’Mona Lisa’ c.1503-1506, is housed at the Musée du Louvre in Paris. The painting is alternatively known as ‘La Gioconda’, with the sitter believed to be Lisa Gherardini; the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, a wealthy Florentine textile merchant. Although the work was commissioned by Giocondo it did not become part of his personal collection. Instead, Leonardo kept the painting and it travelled with him to France, and to the Italian cities of Rome and Milan.

Acknowledged and praised in his own lifetime, Leonardo greatly impressed his artistic contemporaries in Italy and in France. The Italian painter and architect Giorgio Vasari (1511- 1574), who is famous for his biographies of Italian artists, introduced his chapter on Leonardo in his ‘Lives of the Artists’ (1568) thus: ‘In the normal course of events many men and women are born with remarkable talents; but occasionally, in a way that transcends nature, a single person is marvellously endowed by Heaven with beauty, grace and talent in such abundance that he leaves other men far behind, all his actions seem inspired and indeed everything he does clearly comes from God rather than from human skill.’ This skill is vividly apparent in ‘Mona Lisa’, where his smooth layering of oils renders the brushstrokes indistinguishable. The oils are laid on and blended more like tempera; a quick drying paint, which is applied quickly in thin, semi-opaque or transparent layers. Utilising never before seen techniques, Leonardo blends tones into one another to create shadowy and smoky outlines.

The King of Pop Art’s portrait of the King of Pop went under the hammer on August 18, 2009 at an auction hosted by the Vered Gallery in the Hamptons. The owner of the gallery, Janet Lehr, who purchased the 30-by-26-inch Andy Warhol painting for $300,000, only months before Michael Jackson’s death, would not be drawn on the final sum paid by the anonymous buyer. One report, however, stated that it was in excess of $1million.

Prior to the sale, Warhol’s (Green) Michael Jackson portrait had been on tour. Shown at the Peninsula Beverly Hills Hotel and Gallery 825 in West Hollywood, the painting was also displayed at the O2 Arena in London as part of the British Music Experience exhibition. The 02 Arena is the venue where Jackson had been due to perform a number of comeback concerts only days before his untimely death on June 25, 2009.