Today in History—August 21: The Mona Lisa Theft
On this day in 1911, a woman with a mysterious smile went missing. At the time, almost no one knew her name.
It was a Monday, and the Louvre was closed for the day. Three men emerged from a closet in the museum that morning. Dressed as janitors, they took a painting off the wall and removed it from its protective case. One man tucked it under his smock, and then they walked out. (Well, almost. According to some accounts, they first tried to exit via a locked door, but a plumber helpfully opened it for them.) The thieves boarded a 7:47 am train out of Paris.
A full day went by before anyone noticed four bare hooks where the painting had once hung.
Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa had been stolen from the Louvre by Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian housepainter and handyman, and two accomplices. Peruggia had worked at the Louvre. In fact, he had helped install the glass case that protected the painting.
She wasn’t found for two years. In that time, though, her story made its way ’round the world.
The media sensation surrounding the theft helped take the painting from relative obscurity—it was just one of nearly 250,000 works in the Louvre and nearly unknown beyond the French art elite—to one of the world’s most famous artworks.
Both Pablo Picasso and J.P. Morgan were briefly suspected of the theft.
The Mona Lisa was painted between 1503 and 1519, likely a portrait of the wife of one of Leonardo’s wealthy patrons. The thief had hoped to sell this somewhat unremarkable Renaissance painting, but as the publicity from the theft exploded, he realized the art was now too hot to handle.
He waited, hoping the frenzy would die down, keeping the painting in a trunk. In 1913 he attempted to sell the Mona Lisa to an art dealer in Florence (of all places). The dealer recognized the painting and turned Peruggia in.
He would be out of prison in months, before the story of the “most colossal theft of modern times” had even died down.
By the time the painting was returned to the Louvre—complete with improved security—the woman had become an international celebrity.
- 200 pounds: Weight of the Mona Lisa with its frame and glass
- ~25,000: Daily visitors to the Mona Lisa now
- 7 months, 8 days: Prison time Peruggia served
- 1858: The Lincoln-Douglas debates begin
- 1959: Hawaii becomes the 50th state
- 2017: The continental U.S. experiences a total solar eclipse
