Robert Hughes and the Mona Lisa

Mona Lisa painted by Leonardo da Vinci, oil on board, 1503-1519. location - Louvre, Paris

"Malraux famously honored the president and first lady by promising Mrs. Kennedy at the end of the dinner that he would send to her France’s most famous cultural treasure, La Giaconda, the Mona Lisa. In December 1962, a special loan was made directly to the President of the United States and the American people by the government of the French Republic. Malraux accompanied the painting to the United States where more than 700,000 people saw it at the National Gallery of Art and more than a million others viewed it at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. President Kennedy expressed his appreciation for the loan and stated that, “We will continue to press ahead to develop an independent artistic force and power of our own.”

"In the spring of 1962, JFK created the position of Special Consultant on the Arts. He recognized that the role of the federal government in the arts was historically and constitutionally limited, but nonetheless wanted to have access to advice in those areas where public policy had an artistic dimension—such as in the design of public buildings." Source link here.