<P> L.H.O.O.Q. (French pronunciation: ​ (ɛl aʃ oo ky)) is a work of art by Marcel Duchamp . First conceived in 1919, the work is one of what Duchamp referred to as readymades, or more specifically a rectified ready - made . The readymade involves taking mundane, often utilitarian objects not generally considered to be art and transforming them, by adding to them, changing them, or (as in the case of his most famous work Fountain) simply renaming them and placing them in a gallery setting . In L.H.O.O.Q. the objet trouvé ("found object") is a cheap postcard reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa onto which Duchamp drew a moustache and beard in pencil and appended the title . </P> <P> The subject of the Mona Lisa treated satirically had already been explored in 1887 by Eugène Bataille (aka Sapeck) when he created Mona Lisa smoking a pipe, published in Le Rire . It is not clear, however, if Duchamp was familiar with Sapeck's work . </P>

Who painted a mustache on the mona lisa