Mona Lisa ~ Stolen in 1911

Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait of an Italian noblewoman, popularly known as Mona Lisa (which can be translated as Madam Lisa or My Lady Lisa), may be the most famous, most recognized, painting in the world.

Mona Lisa, by Leonardo da Vinci, digitally retouched to reduce the effects of aging.

I had the privilege of viewing the portrait several years ago during a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Louvre Museum in Paris. It was the only painting at the huge museum—in fact, the only piece of art—we had to wait in line to see. I remember being surprised at how small this larger-than-life painting actually is!

The dimensions are 77cm x 53cm (approximately 30” x 20”) making the original portrait smaller than its poster-sized reproductions. The portrait was painted with oils on a white Lombardy poplar panel in the early 1500s.

You may wonder, as I have, why this painting is more special than all the other portraits of Italian nobility painted by da Vinci. Here’s what I learned:

Art historians find it significant that da Vinci painted his subject, most often identified as Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, in three-quarter profile with her gaze fixed on the observer. He also used a rare pyramid technique to place her “calmly and simply in the painting’s space” (UKEssays).

Da Vinci’s unusual choice to “depict the sitter in front of an imaginary landscape” and to “use aerial perspective” is also significant. He is one of the first painters to utilize these techniques (Wikipedia). 

Adding to the painting’s importance is this bit of trivia ~ the Mona Lisa is only one of four da Vinci paintings whose authenticity has not been controversial. The other three are Adoration of the Magi, Saint Jerome in the Wilderness, and the immensely popular The Last Supper.

The above image depicts "a margin note by Agostino Vespucci (visible at right) discovered in a book at Heidelberg University. Dated 1503, it states that Leonardo was working on a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo" (image caption on Wikipedia).

Another reason for the painting’s rise to world recognition has nothing to do with da Vinci and everything to do with Vincenzo Peruggia, an employee at the Louvre.

Mug shot of Vincenzo Peruggia

On August 21, 1911, Peruggia hid in a broom closet until after the museum closed then walked away with the Mona Lisa wrapped up in his white smock—a garment typically worn by museum employees at that time. 

Peruggia stored the painting in a trunk in his Paris apartment for two years before taking it to Florence and contacting the owner of a local art gallery. 

The gallery owner had the painting authenticated by the director of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. After these two gentlemen notified law enforcement, Peruggia was arrested.

The Mona Lisa in the Uffizi Gallery, in Florence, 1913. 
Museum director Giovanni Poggi (right) inspects the painting.

Peruggia, who may have believed that Napoleon stole the Mona Lisa during the Napoleonic Wars, claimed he wanted to return the painting to Italy. However, it was da Vinci—not Napoleon—who took the painting to France. He gave it to King Francis I when he became the official painter for the French court.

Not everyone believes Peruggia was motivated by patriotism. According to the Florence gallery owner, the thief expected a reward for bringing the painting “home.” A couple of letters he wrote to his father after the theft suggest he expected a fortune to come his way.

Another theory is that Peruggia was in cahoots with a forger who planned to sell copies of the painting as the original.

Whatever the reason for his theft, Peruggia was hailed as a patriot and received a lenient sentence. He spent about six to seven months in jail. 

The Mona Lisa was exhibited throughout Italy before being returned to the Louvre in 1913. All the publicity surrounding the theft and then the recovery of the painting increased its fame with the general public.

The Mona Lisa returned at the Louvre Museum

“Considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, [the Mona Lisa] has been described as ‘the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world’” (From the Louvre).

It’s no surprise that the famous painting was at the top of Hitler’s list of paintings he wanted for his planned Führermuseum. Jacques Jaujard, director of France's National Museums, ensured Hitler didn’t get his wish. 

Jaujard protected the Mona Lisa and hundreds of other pieces of art by moving them from one hiding place to another during World War II. On October 6, 1947, the Mona Lisa returned to the Louvre. (Click here for more details on how Jaujard hid the painting.)

After another theft attempt, the Mona Lisa was placed under a glass case which was shattered when someone threw a rock at the painting. The broken glass was replaced with bulletproof glass.

Mona Lisa behind bulletproof glass at the Louvre Museum

When the painting was on display at the Tokyo National Museum in 1974, a woman sprayed it with red paint to protest the museum’s lack of suitable access for the disabled. In 2009, a Russian woman touring the Louvre purchased a ceramic teacup then threw it at the painting. The glass case protected the painting from any damage in both these incidents.

For more info about the 1911 theft, you may wish to watch the The Missing Piece: Mona Lisa, Her Thief, the True Story, which can be rented or purchased from Amazon Prime. The documentary features Peruggia’s daughter who was 84-years-old at the time of filming (2012).

Johnnie Alexander imagines inspiring stories in multiple genres. A fan of classic movies, stacks of books, and road trips, she shares a life of quiet adventure with Griff, her happy-go-lucky collie, and Rugby, her raccoon-treeing papillon.

The heroine in Johnnie's WWII novel, Where Treasure Hides, risks her life to protect her family's artistic legacy.

To learn more about Johnnie's books, her monthly novel giveaways, and the 2022 Mosaic Reading Challenge, visit johnnie-alexander.com.

Note ~ The first five photos are in Public Domain. The photo captioned "Mona Lisa behind bulletproof glass..." is used under Creative Commons with attribution to https://www.flickr.com/photos/cayetano/2170060100/.

Resource ~ UKEssays Citation: "Historical Significance of Mona Lisa Painting." ukessays.com. 11 2018. UKEssays. 02 2022 <https://www.ukessays.com/essays/arts/history-and-significance-of-the-mona-lisa-arts-essay.php?vref=1>.

New Monthly Series ~ Stolen and Lost Artwork

While researching various aspects of World War II, I came across a 2006 documentary called The Rape of Europa which was based on Lynn H. Nicholas’s book, The Rape of Europa: The Fate of Europe's Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War, published in 1995.

The documentary and the book sparked my interest in the Monuments Men and I read everything I could find on the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program. This group, established in 1943, was tasked with protecting artwork, historic structures, and cultural monuments from theft and damage plus the recovery of stolen treasures. 

 

My main resource was The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Robert M. Edel (published in 2009). I was so fascinated by the stories of these heroic men that the hero of my first published novel, Where Treasure Hides, joins the Monuments Unit toward the end of the war.

Needless to say, I was thrilled when The Monuments Men movie starring George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, and other well-known actors came to theaters the year after my novel was released.

 

All that initial research occurred over a decade ago. However, I've been intrigued by art thefts, whether by the Nazis or criminals or even do-gooders (anyone else a Leverage* fan?) ever since.

Over the next few months, I’ll share more about the Monuments Men and their quest to protect Europe’s art amidst the chaos of war, about French art historian Rose Valland who worked with the French Resistance to secretly record the paintings the Nazis took from the Jeu de Paume Art Museum, and about such historic heists as the thirteen paintings stolen from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990.

 

Though paintings such as The Mona Lisa (stolen in 1911) and The Scream (stolen in 2004) have been recovered, the whereabouts of the stolen Gardner paintings remain a mystery. Numerous works of art stolen during World War II have never been found. One of the most famous of these is Raphael’s Portrait of a Young Man which was stolen from the Princes Czartoryski Museum, located in Krakow, Poland, in 1939. 

 

Here’s a bit of interesting trivia I found about the most often stolen piece of art as quoted from “Who is the Most Stolen Artist of All Time?” on the Live Science website (October 2012).

 

“The title for the most frequently stolen single major artwork seems to be contested. Guinness World Records gives it to Rembrandt's 'Jacob de Gheyn III,' which was stolen four times since 1966, surfacing once in a left-luggage office, once on the back of a bicycle, once under a graveyard bench and once in a taxi.

The other candidate, the Ghent Altarpiece, or ‘Adoration of the Mystic Lamb,’ which was the joint work of the Flemish brothers Hubert and Jan van Eyck, was stolen seven times over six centuries, according to art historian Noah Charney's website. One of those times was during WWII when it was placed in an Austrian salt mine along with thousands of other stolen art and cultural treasures."

This image depicts the back of the Altarpiece when the panels are closed.

If there’s a particular art heist or aspect of stolen/lost art that you’d like me to write about, please let me know. I’ll add your topic to my list and do my best to write about it in the coming months.

 

Johnnie imagines inspiring stories in multiple genres. A fan of classic movies, stacks of books, and road trips, she shares a life of quiet adventure with Griff, her happy-go-lucky collie, and Rugby, her raccoon-treeing papillon. Visit her at johnnie-alexander.com.

 

 

About Where Treasure Hides:

~~CBA Best Seller

~~Serious Writer Maxwell Award

~~Blue Ridge Autumn in the Mountains Golden Leaf Award

~~ACFW Genesis Winner

~~Translated into Dutch & Norwegian

*For those who may not be familiar with the TV show, Leverage (2008-2012) “follows a five-person team: a thief, a grifter, a hacker, and a retrieval specialist, led by former insurance investigator Nathan Ford, who use their skills to carry out heists to fight corporate and governmental injustices inflicted on ordinary citizens” (Wikipedia ~ who explained it better than I could). Most of the cast have returned for Leverage: Redemption (now available on Amazon Prime with IMDb subscription).