Did you ever wonder if the faces in familiar works of art were real people? Take the "Mona Lisa" for example. Some critics say it is Leonard himself. As for Renoir's "Dance at Bougival," found at the MFA in Boston, the model is Suzanne Valadon. She was a former circus trapeze artist turned model. At the age of eighteen she had a child, Maurice Utrillo, who despite his alcoholism would become an important painter of the early 20th century. There is the question as to who Maurice's father was. Could it have been a famous artist? Suzanne taught herself to draw and then began to paint. Her early work was influenced by the artists she associated with: Picasso, Van Gogh, Modigliani. She was the only woman to show her works in the 1894 Salon de la Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Her work is much sought after today. The mystery surrounding Maurice's father continues today. Buy Posters Here From AllPosters.com