You all know her, the most famous portrait in the world. The Mona Lisa. Today the Mona Lisa hangs in the Louvre, in Paris France. Painted by the famous genius Leonardo Da Vinci, the Mona Lisa traditionally dates to between 1503 and 1506 but recent scholarship suggests that painting began as late as 1517. The 30 by 21 inch painting holds the Guinness World Record for the highest known insurance valuation in history at US$100 million in 1962 (equivalent to $650 million in 2018). The Mona Lisa, an oil painting features a portrait of a seated woman with a landscape in the background. The painting has produced many conspiracy theories and one scholar described it as "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world". Why is the Mona Lisa so famous? Some say because she was stolen right off the wall of the Louvre in 1911. This episode will discuss that Crime Story.
You have heard me describe the legal system on France in a couple episodes so instead of rehashing it I will instead start with some facts about art theft. 52% of art theft occurs in the homes of private collectors and 95% of stolen art never returns to its country of origin. About 50,000-100,000 pieces of art are stolen each year with the most art theft occurring in the United Kingdom followed by the United States, both countries have Art Theft Crime Divisions in their federal police. The largest art heist in the United States, occurred in Boston at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990, when an estimated $500 million dollars of art was stolen, including three Rembrandts. By the way a great podcast called Last Seen discusses this heist if you want to learn more. Picasso’s are the most stolen with a staggering 1,147 pieces of his work being stolen. Even the Nazi’s stole art and several interesting books detail their thefts and how several famous works have never resurfaced. Closely related to art theft is art forgery and some estimate nearly a third of museum pieces are forgeries. Perhaps a future podcast topic!
If the traditional notion holds true Da Vinci started working on the painting in 1503 while in Florence, Italy. Most believe the painting depicts an Italian noblewoman by the name of Lisa del Giocondo. One famous alternate story suggests the painting is Da Vinci in drag or perhaps one of his assistants. We know that Da Vinci left Italy in 1513 and the theory posits that he took the painting with him. Many believe the painting to be larger with a more elaborate background that Da Vinci later trimmed to its current incarnation. Around 1517, Da Vinci experienced paralysis in his right hand, causing some art historians to explain this as the reason the painting remains unfinished. Dan Brown’s book The Da Vinci Code caused a resurgence in the popularity of the Mona Lisa, many now believe that the Mona Lisa holds clues to the world’s biggest secrets. The most disputed part of the Mona Lisa involves her famous smile. Some investigators state that “Mona Lisa’s expression suggests compulsive grinding of her teeth, poor diet, a dysfunctional marriage, deafness, or facial paralysis; and that the look of contentment on her face and the coy placement of her hands indicate pregnancy, or a career in prostitution, or even that her teeth had turned black from mercury used as a syphilis treatment. Others suggest she suffered from crossed eyes. Researchers at the University of Amsterdam studied her smile in 2005 using what they called “emotion recognition” software. The researchers determined that the woman in the portrait was 83 percent happy, 9 percent disgusted, 6 percent fearful, and 2 percent angry.”
Like I stated before it is believed that Da Vinci brought the painting with him to France when the King of France, Francis I invited him to Amboise. Upon the painter’s death the King claimed ownership either having bought it or inheriting the painting. I should note that the painting did not have fame or much value at this point in time.
Since the French Revolution the Mona Lisa has hung in the Louvre except when stolen and when Napoleon hung it in his bedroom. At the time of the 1911 theft the painting had not captured the imagination of the public. Clearly a masterpiece the painting was just another of a long series of portraits that one would see in a museum. Trust me, I know. My father has dragged me to every great museum in Europe and spends hours ogling over paintings. FUN TIMES! But, the popularity of the Mona Lisa changed in 1911 when newspapers around the world blasted pictures of the painting while covering the “art theft of the century.”
At the time of the theft the Louvre held the distinction of being the world’s largest building housing art and held thousands of paintings. The security, however, remained lax. Prior to the theft, The Louvre received a letter threatening the Mona Lisa and museum officials decided to encase the painting in glass. Vincenzo Peruggia handled the job. But a year later on a hot and humid August 21 day someone stole the Mona Lisa off the wall, leaving only the glass and frame behind. Today, if you go into the Louvre, the Mona Lisa essentially has its own room where too many people cram in and crane their necks to see her. A roped off area exists in front of the painting and bullet proof glass protects the painting as well. Like most people who visit commont, the painting is alot smaller than people realize prior to seeing it. In 1911 the painting hung on the wall aside other paintings, making it easy to grab.
Officials did not discover Da Vinci’s masterpiece missing for nearly 26 hours. A painter named Louis Béroud while walking around the Louvre admiring paintings came to view the Mona Lisa but only saw four metal pegs. He alerted security and initially confusion reigned as perhaps the painting had been removed by museum officials for a photo. Not the case, and officials at the Louvre alerted the media, closed the museum, and started the investigation. French police did not produce many answers, but they did make some arrests, including famed painter Pablo Picasso. While innocent of this crime, Pablo did buy stolen art from known art thieves.
For two years the painting remained missing, remember there were no security cameras and the security team wasn’t really up to par in the first place. Six months earlier a reporter had noted that the Louvre’s paintings just hung while Italian museums bolted their paintings. The press ridiculed the French but soon a break in the case happened. In November 1913, an art dealer in Florence named Alfredo Geri received communication from a man calling himself Leonardo Vincenzo (an obvious alias), offering him the Mona Lisa for 500,000 Italian lire. Geri accepted. The art thief travelled to Florence with the Mona Lisa stuffed in his trunk and then took the painting to the art dealer. Geri convinced the thief to leave the Mona Lisa with him overnight. Instead, Geri alerted the police and the case resolved.
So, who stole the Mona Lisa? Vincenzo Peruggia, the man who placed protective glass over the Mona Lisa. Employed by the Louvre to place glass over several masterpieces hid in a broom closet with his two brothers so that they would not be thrown out at closing time. Later that evening, the three men took the Mona Lisa down and out from the frame. The next day, Peruggia hid the painting under his work uniform and simply walked out after the museum opened the next day.
Peruggia hid the painting in a false bottom trunk in his room for the two years. The police had even interviewed him about a year after the theft, asking him about being late to work the morning of the day that officials discovered the painting missing. He stated that he had drank too much the previous evening and had slept in to cure his hangover. The whole time the police interviewed him they were within feet of the painting.
Peruggia claimed himself an Italian patriot who believed that France had stolen the treasure from Italy. In a way Peruggia kind of got what he wanted because after finding the Mona Lisa the Italians exhibited it in the Uffizi Gallery for two weeks before being returned to the Louvre on Jan. 4th, 1914. Peruggia only spent six months in jail for the crime and Italians hailed as a hero for his patriotism.
Since 1914 there have been some strange events involving the Mona Lisa. In the 1950’s, a man claimed to love with the painting so he cut it with a razor blade in an attempt to steal it. He failed. After this incident museum officials put the painting under glass. In 1956 a Bolivian vandal threw a rock at the Mona Lisa and broke the glass as well as chipped some of the paint. After this event officials encased the painting in bulletproof glass.
In 1974 a woman tried to spray the painting with red paint to protest poor access to the painting for disabled people. Not quite sure I get this idiot’s logic! Finally, in 2009, a Russian woman threw a teacup at the painting because the government denied her request for French citizenship. Clearly, the French got that one right!
A Crime Story is hosted and written by me, Kailin Lois. Sources for today’s episode can be found in the show’s notes. Theme Music is by Ross Bugden. Additional story editing is brought to you by my father, Mike. Thank you for listening to A Crime Story! Stay safe at home and aboard.
Sources: Culture Trip, Live Science, The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Atlantic, Solosophie, CNN, Artrageous with Nate, Mona Lisa Mania
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