For some time, criticism rained down on the old master Leonardo da Vinci, accused of instability and inconstancy. Indeed, Pope Leo X had preferred Raphael as the painter and architect of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, which had been under construction since 1506. His meeting with the young French King Francis I, visiting Bologna in 1515, was like love at first sight. He felt that he had finally met his protector. The following year, at the invitation of the king, he left for France without even completing the fresco of the Battle of Anghiari, in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. He took three paintings with him: ‘Mona Lisa’, ‘St John the Baptist’ and ‘St Anne’. Francis I bought ‘Mona Lisa’ from him in 1518.