• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Margaret Leslie Davis

  • Books
  • About The Author
  • Lectures
  • Press & Media
  • Contact

Mona Lisa in Camelot: How Jacqueline Kennedy and Da Vinci’s Masterpiece Charmed and Captivated a Nation

By Margaret Leslie Davis

Featured on ABC's Good Morning America
Excerpted in Vanity Fair Magazine
Featured in the London Sunday Times Magazine


In December 1962, Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa set sail from Paris to New York for what many knew would be the riskiest art exhibition ever mounted. The fragile painting, sealed in a temperature-controlled, bulletproof box, traveled like a head of state accompanied by armed guards and constant surveillance.

 
Secret Service agents escort a box holding The Mona Lisa

The U.S. Secret Service escorted the Mona Lisa along a red carpet as the painting was removed from the SS France at New York Harbor on the morning of December 19, 1962.

 
The driving force behind the famous painting's high profile visit was First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, who convinced French Cultural Minister Andre Malraux and National Gallery Director John Walker to share the masterpiece with the American people. She overcame the fierce objections of art officials who feared the journey would ruin the world's most celebrated smile, and “Lisa Fever” soon swept the nation as nearly two million Americans attended exhibits in Washington, D.C. and New York City. It was the greatest outpouring of appreciation for a single work of art in American history. And as only Jacqueline Kennedy could do, she infused America's first museum blockbuster show with a unique sense of pageantry that ignited a national love affair with the arts.

 
Jacqueline Kennedy at Dinner in honor of Andre Malraux, Minister of State for Cultural Affairs of France, 1963

Following a White House dinner in his honor, French Cultural Minister Andre Malraux is said to have whispered a promise to Mrs. Kennedy that he would lend her the Mona Lisa.

 
Gathering rare archival documents acclaimed biographer Margaret Leslie Davis has woven a tantalizing saga filled with international intrigue and the irresistible charm of Camelot and its queen.

All New Edition Published by The White House Historical Association


 
The Mona Lisa Exhibit 1963, Leonardo da Vinci, Margaret Leslie Davis

Guests of all ages visited the National Gallery to view the painting.

“The non-fiction book reads like a daring art story that somebody had to make up with two beautiful ‘women' heading the cast (the Mona Lisa and Jackie K). The incredible story of how Jackie Bouvier brought ‘culture' to a White house that hadn't had any since Thomas Jefferson left it. Margaret Leslie Davis is known for her fascinating histories and this is a recent one with a gloss, chock-full of glamour, big rich names, super philanthropy, a dedicated woman who was willing to trade her charm for a few Cezannes in the White House and the most famous painting in the world for the National Gallery… An engaging and dynamite story… This is a really important little addition to American museum and art history.”

— Liz Smith, New York Post

 
Eager Crowd Waits to See The Mona Lisa, New York 1963

Thousands of visitors waited in line for the doors to open when on February 7, 1963, the Mona Lisa went on view to the public at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. More than one million New Yorkers went to see the painting during the month-long exhibition, enduring winter cold and rain, as “Mona Mania” swept the nation.

“Margaret Leslie Davis' Mona Lisa in Camelot… brings back all the glamour and high hopes of the Kennedy White House with the story of Jacqueline's successful campaign to import Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa to the United States… Davis' description of the glittering White House dinner the Kennedys arranged in order to woo Malraux makes you dizzy with nostalgia for a first lady with a sophisticated appreciation and respect for the arts…  I would call Mona Lisa in Camelot escapist nonfiction-except that it's firmly grounded in historical fact, and its triumphant heroine, though she's the stuff of fantasy, is as real as you and me.”

— Adam Begley, New York Observer

 
The Mona Lisa at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Safeguarded behind bullet proof glass the painting was handsomely displayed in the museum's Medieval Sculpture Hall.

“No detail goes unexamined, no gesture unexplored in Margaret Leslie Davis's impassioned account of Mona Lisa's historic journey from France to America. Much more than a story about the travels of a world-famous painting, this is a tale of inernational diplomacy, personal relationships, cultural symbolism and – most of all – the power of two great ladies.”

— Suzanne Muchnic, Los Angeles Times art writer

 
The Mona Lisa Exhibit 1963, Leonardo da Vinci


“This distinguished historian has written a charming and painstakingly researched account of Jacqueline Kennedy's pivotal role in bringing the Mona Lisa to Washington, an achievement that signaled an American cultural awakening.”

— Lou Cannon, author of President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime

 

WINNER NARRATIVE NON-FICTION
2018 INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARDS
AMERICAN BOOK FEST


Select Video Clips

Mona Lisa in Camelot Promo Reel [WATCH VIDEO]
Mona Lisa in Camelot on ABC's Good Morning America [WATCH VIDEO]
The Mona Lisa Visits America by The White House Historical Association [WATCH VIDEO]
The White House Historical Association Presents Mona Lisa in Camelot [WATCH VIDEO]



Learn More & Buy Book ›

Margaret Leslie Davis

Primary Sidebar

Mona Lisa in Camelot book cover

“A little gem of a book.”

– Good Morning America

“Instant Classic”

– More Magazine

Mona Lisa Exhibition 1963, Leonardo da Vinci - Margaret Leslie Davis

U.S. Marine Guards with bayonets kept watch in the National Gallery. The hygrothermograph, the instrument used to record climate conditions inside the museum, is visible beneath the painting.

“[Davis] offers an intriguing sketch of Jackie – a woman as enigmatic as the Mona Lisa herself.”

– Newsday

The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci - Margaret Leslie Davis, Mona Lisa in Camelot

Officials at the Louvre prepare the Mona Lisa for her trip to America.

Transporting the painting by air was considered too dangerous and French officials insisted that the painting travel by ocean liner.

“Davis tells the tale in charming fashion.”

– USA Today

The Mona Lisa is packed for the transport to Washington. Louvre. Paris. December 1962.

On December 14, 1962, the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci was removed from the wall at the Louvre in France, in preparation for transport to the United States. The painting was packed for transport in a fireproof and unsinkable steel trunk and loaded aboard the French liner SS France for its journey to America.

“Mona Lisa in Camelot is well written, extensively researched and meticulously rendered – a masterpiece in its own right.”

– BookPage

Jacqueline & John F. Kennedy, The Mona Lisa exhibit 1963

President and Mrs. Kennedy posed with their guests the French Minister of Culture and Mrs. Andre Malraux at the foot of the grand staircase on the evening of May 11, 1962, prior to a state dinner in their honor. The menu selected by Mrs. Kennedy included an elegant selection of French dishes.

“Jackie lovers will be thrilled.”

– Kirkus Reviews

White House Historical Association

“Meticulously researched… a delightful story.”

– Boston Globe


Learn More & Buy Book ›

  • Books
  • About The Author
  • Lectures
  • Press & Media
  • Contact

Footer

Contact The Author

Margaret Leslie Davis
+1 (323) 662-4813
Email

Connect & Follow

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn

Literary Representation

Betsy Amster Literary Enterprises
Contact: Betsy Amster
+1 (626) 529-5667
Email | Web Site

Copyright© 2025 Margaret Leslie Davis · All Rights Reserved Worldwide · Powered with ♥ by Slingblade Interactive