Napoleon Bonaparte was not alone in being a French ruler who sought to hold the “Mona Lisa” in his private possession. King Francois I was the first French owner of the renowned Da Vinci painting, according to PBS.

Francois had been a lifelong patron of the Renaissance artist, and the Mona Lisa Foundation‘s website describes how the “Mona Lisa” was sold to the king at the time of Leonardo’s death by the artist’s assistant, Gian Giacomo Caprotti da Oreno, aka Salai.

Per PBS, da Vinci’s masterpiece thereafter hung in the Francois’ luxurious bathhouse, the “Apartement des Bains,” presumably not too close to the steam room, and entered France’s National Collection as early as the 16th Century. After being passed down to a succession of French monarchs, the painting was hidden away in a warehouse for protection during the French Revolution.

Napoleon became First Consul of France in 1799, and after a series of mostly successful military campaigns, he was already all-powerful. According to The Regency Redingote, it was around this time that Napoleon’s love affair with the famous painting began — the “Mona Lisa” was by this time hanging in the Louvre — giving her the nickname the “​​Sphinx of the Occident” in reference to the riddle her expression seems to pose. He ordered that she be taken to his private quarters, and with no one willing to argue with him, that’s where she stayed, until 1804, by which time Napoleon was Emperor.