Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci, ca.
Oil on poplar panel, 30 x 21 in.
More than 10 million people view theMona Lisaevery year at theLouvre, making it themost visited paintingin the world.
Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci, ca. 1503-1506. Oil on poplar panel, 30 x 21 in. (Photo: Galerie de tableaux en très haute définition viaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)
At first, Louvre staff were unaware of the theft.
When the guard couldnt locate it, the police were finally called.
A frantic search and media circus ensued, adding to the paintings allure and popularity with the public.
The Mona Lisa’s vacant wall space in the Louvre, after having been stolen in 1911. (Photo: Century Magazine viaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)
Police even suspected and subsequently arrested the high-profile French poet Guillaume Apollinaire, who implicated his friendPablo Picassowhen interrogated.
Both art legends were later acquitted due to a lack of evidence.
Peruggia worked as a handyman for the Louvre and even assisted in the construction ofMona Lisas protective glass case.
Louis Béroud’s 1911 painting depicting the Mona Lisa displayed in the Louvre before the theft. Béroud was the visiting artist who reported the theft to Louvre guards two days later. (Photo: Louis Béroud viaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)
He eventually stole the painting during regular museum hours and hid with it inside a broom closet.
By December 1913, Peruggia grew impatient.
The gallerist asked Giovanni Poggi, director of Florence’s Uffizi Galleries, to authenticate the artwork.
The Mona Lisa on display in Uffizi Gallery in Florence. (Photo: Unknown Author – The Telegraph viaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)
The artwork was then exhibited in the Uffizi Galleries for two weeks before making its way back to Paris.
On January 4, 1914, theMona Lisawas at last recovered by the Louvre.
Peruggia served six months in prison for the crime and was hailed as a national hero in Italy.
La Joconde est Revenue (“The Mona Lisa has returned”), Excelsior: Journal Illustré Quotidien, January 1914. (Photo: Gallica Digital Library viaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)
Though Peruggia himself has largely been forgotten, his heist is undoubtedly etched into art history.
TheMona Lisawas subject to one of the worlds most famous art thefts in 1911.
The Mona Lisa’s vacant wall space in the Louvre, after having been stolen in 1911.
Louis Beroud’s 1911 painting depicting the Mona Lisa displayed in the Louvre before the theft.
Beroud was the visiting artist who reported the theft to Louvre guards two days later.
