Art History Facts

The Mona Lisa has no eyebrows. It was the fashion in Renaissance Florence to shave them off!

Rudyard Kipling refused to write with anything other than black ink.

During his lifetime, artist Vincent Van Gogh only sold one of his paintings.

Leonardo da Vinci wrote most of his personal notes in mirror writing—reversed text readable only when held up to a mirror. As a left-hander, this likely prevented ink smudging as his hand moved across the page.

In Holland, the world’s first public glow-in-the-dark bike path has opened. It features beautiful swirling patterns inspired by Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh’s famous 'Starry Night' painting.

There are pictures of Knights fighting Snails in old Medieval manuscripts - and nobody knows why.

A couple from Bristol who had trouble selling their house, found out they had an original Banksy on their wall, and received twice the asking price by selling the painting with a house attached.

Michelangelo was sentenced to death in 1530. He hid for two months in a secret coal vault, drawing on the walls. Those drawings - attributed to him but still debated - lay plastered over for 445 years. In 1975, a director found them under a trapdoor. They are still on the walls.