Wall Picture canvas painting HD print

2. Leonardo DiCaprio was named after the other famous Leonardo: Leonardo DaVinci. Before he was born, the story goes, DiCaprio’s mother felt her baby kick for the first time while she was standing in front of a portrait of Leonardo DaVinci at a gallery in Florence, Italy. According to Leo, his father took this as a cosmic sign.

3. Mona Lisa has no clearly visible eyebrows or eyelashes. In 2007, French engineer Pascal Cotte announced that his ultra-high resolution scans of the painting provide evidence that Mona Lisa was originally painted with eyelashes and with better visible eyebrows, but that these had gradually disappeared over time, perhaps as a result of overcleaning.

4. Some German cities have public “art libraries” you can borrow an art work (painting or little sculpture), mostly from local artists, for 3 months, paying a little fee of 5 euros for insurance and take it home, enjoying it in the privacy of your own place, at your own pace and whenever you want.

5. Dutch painter Rembrandt’s miserly ways were so well known that his students played trick on him by painting coins on the floor, which their master naturally stooped to pick up.

6. The American Gothic painting by Grant Wood is not of husband and wife, but of a father and daughter.

7. For most of history, smiling in a painting or photo was considered radical, and even Mark Twain once wrote, “A photograph is a most important document, and there is nothing more damning to go down to posterity than a silly, foolish smile caught and fixed forever.”

8. A painting bought by a priest for £400 was revealed on Antiques Roadshow UK to be the work of the 17th Century master Sir Anthony Van Dyck and to be worth £400,000. The priest was happy to have the extra money to buy new church bells.

9. Despite being one of the most famous painters in history, only 15 paintings of Leonardo da Vinci are known to exist. This is due in part to Leonardo’s frequently disastrous experimentation with new techniques and his chronic procrastination.