Mona Lisa was exceedingly beautiful, and while Leonardo was painting her portrait, he took the precaution of keeping someone constantly near her, to sing or play on instruments, or to jest and be merry, so as to exclude that melancholy which painters are accustomed to give to portraits. And in this work of Leonardo's there was a smile so pleasant that it was a thing more divine than human to behold, and it was held to be a marvelous thing, since it was none other than alive; whence, by reason of this, the work was called La Gioconda."