She may look as though she is suffering from a severe bout of jaundice, but 5.5 million people a year queue up to see the enigmatic smile of Lisa di Noldo Gherardini, and the Louvre is not about to give in to demands that she have a face lift.
"I'm afraid there's absolutely no question of restoring her in any way," said Jean-Pierre Cuzin, the head curator of paintings. "She does look a bit yellow, but fundamentally she's in magnificent condition - and the Mona Lisa is famous the way she is now."Claims by art experts that the world's most famous painting is in need of restoration have sparked a furious debate in Paris.
The Louvre insists that stripping away the yellowed layers of varnish applied over the centuries is unnecessary and could do irreparable damage. Restorers and art historians say the Mona Lisa deserves to be seen the way Leonardo da Vinci painted her in 1503.
A French art magazine fueled the debate recently by publishing two photographs of the portrait, one untouched and the other a computer-generated restoration showing a Mona Lisa with rosy cheeks instead of a yellow pallor, set against brilliant blue skies rather than a thundery evening glow.
"This raises fundamental questions," Le Journal des Arts said. "Is the task of museums not to present works in the closest state possible to that desired by the artist? Should one intervene in a painting only when it is essential, to preserve it? In a word, is the Mona Lisa untouchable?"
The row follows the Louvre's decision to give the Mona Lisa a room of her own. The new gallery, to be paid for from a $40 million donation by a Japanese television network, will not be completed until at least 2001, and art experts are urging the museum to take advantage of the move by cleaning the picture.
Technically, they say, the restoration is possible if exceptionally demanding. As a former head of restoration at the Louvre once said: "If you want to drive a restorer to suicide, ask him to tackle the Mona Lisa."