The Mona Lisa
Where the Mona Lisa should have hung, after its theft in 1911
Vincenzo Peruggia (1881 - 1925)
The Mona Lisa is carried back to the Louvre, 1914
August 21st 1911: Mona Lisa stolen
On this day in 1911, the Mona Lisa, a famous painting by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci, was stolen from the Louvre in Paris. The painting was acquired by King Francis I of France soon after it was finished in the early sixteenth century, and became the property of the French state; in 1797, the Mona Lisa was put on display in the Louvre Museum in Paris. In August 1911, an former employee of the museum named Vincenzo Peruggia hid in the Louvre overnight and smuggled the iconic painting out of the museum under his coat, past an unattended guard station. Despite the conspicuous empty space on the wall where da Vinci’s painting usually hung, it took a full day for guards to realise the Mona Lisa was stolen and not just taken for photographing or cleaning. The theft caused uproar, with another suspect arrested for the crime before being released for lack of evidence, and artist Pablo Picasso also being questioned. It took two years for Peruggia to be found, and he was only caught when he tried to sell the Mona Lisa in Florence, after having hidden the stolen painting in his Paris apartment for two years. Peruggia, an Italian immigrant, supposedly stole the painting in an effort to return it to its native Italy, though recent research suggests more material than patriotic intentions. The painting was displayed in Italy before returning to Paris in 1913, its theft having drawn the world’s attention to the Mona Lisa, making it the cultural icon it is today. Peruggia was arrested and imprisoned for seven months for committing one of the greatest art heists in history, but was hailed by many Italians as a patriot.
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