[Wikipedia] Uses: The wood is soft but close-grained and easy to carve, shrinking very little during seasoning. It has been used for sculpture from Europe to China and the US.[8] The Penitent Magdalene by Donatello is one 15th-century example. It was the most commonly used wood for panel paintings in Italy throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, until mostly replaced as a matrix by canvas from 1500 onwards. Most earlier Italian Renaissance paintings are painted on poplar panels, the Mona Lisa being but one example. (link added by Mary Ann Machi)