The Louvre Museum in Paris has infuriated Italians by tweeting a doctored image of the Mona Lisa wearing a French jersey - hours after the country's World Cup win.

The masterpiece was painted by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci, leading some to describe the artwork's Frenchification as "unforgivable".

One person tweeted: "The mona lisa is Italian because it's the work of an Italian. Full stop. THE ARTWORK IS OURS."

Image: Kylian Mbappe of France celebrates with the World Cup trophy

Another said: "To celebrate you use an Italian painting. Useless Ignoramuses. You should hide in shame."

Someone else joked: "When French want to show something beautiful, rest assured that that 'something' is Italian."


Italy regularly petitions for the return of the painting, which was valued at £604m in 2017. It has been on permanent display in the Paris museum since 1797.

In 2014, George Clooney weighed in - and reportedly said France should return the Mona Lisa to Italy.

Image: France celebrates after winning the World Cup

Amid the backlash, the Louvre's official Twitter account tweeted in Italian that the painting was bought by France's King Francis I.

"For information, the Mona Lisa was sold by Leonardo da Vinci to King Francis I," it said.

France claimed the World Cup for the second time since the tournament was held in the nation back in 1998, winning 4-2 against Croatia on Sunday.

With an average age of 26, France had the second-youngest team in the tournament and featured its star players Paul Pogba and Antoine Griezmann.