If I had discovered an early 16th-century letter written to Lorenzo De’ Medici about arranging a clandestine meeting between him and a certain Lisa Del Giocondo (better known to the world as Mona Lisa) in a place known as the capannuccia, or “love shack”, I would have written a historical fiction book and tried to strike it rich! But my former professor and professional mentor, Rab Hatfield, decided instead to write the definitive academic work about the world’s most famous painting. This book is a tour de force of both old and new information, with some almost shocking revelations about why Leonardo heavily reworked the painting twice. A must for any art history library!