Sometimes, the truth is stranger than fiction. And that’s what I am trying to explore in the ‘Stranger Things’ series. Here, you will come across true stories that are bizarre, interesting, and worth knowing. Happy reading!
Picture this
It’s August 1911. France. You are a painter visiting the Louvre Museum in Paris to sketch your painting titled ‘Mona Lisa at the Louvre’. You set up your easel and are all set to sketch. But there’s a problem. Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci is not on its wall.
You don’t panic. Calmly, you approach a guard and request him to simply fetch the painting from the photography studio, as it was common for the paintings to be taken there to be photographed. The guard obliges. He scurries back and says the painting is not with the photographers. It’s stolen!
Back then, Mona Lisa wasn’t the Mona Lisa that we know of. She was probably just another beautiful painting at the museum. But the events following its theft made it what it is today.
The news goes viral
The museum was closed for a week after the theft. Every newspaper featured a photo of the Mona Lisa with a catchy headline. The theft created a frenzy amidst national and international media making the Mona Lisa a household name. In today’s lingo, the Mona Lisa was trending worldwide.
A week later, the museum opened to a serpentine queue. People had lined up to view the blank space where Mona Lisa used to be hung. They even started placing flower bouquets at that spot!
As far as the investigation was concerned, the police had found three vital clues: a fingerprint on the wall, a broken doorknob, and the painting’s frame. Employees, previous and present, were questioned.
The police then went after the usual suspects who were infamous for art theft and interrogated them. Pablo Picasso’s name also came up as a suspect but it was dropped soon. The thief hunt went on for two years but to no avail.
You’ve got mail
In 1913, two years after the theft, an Italian antique dealer, Alfredo Geri, received a letter from a ‘Leonardo’ stating that he had stolen the Mona Lisa from France and wanted to return it to its homeland, Italy. Geri contacted the director of Uffizi Gallery, Giovanni Poggi, and discussed the matter with him.
There was some correspondence between Leonardo and the two men, which ended in Leonardo stating that he could bring the stolen painting for authentication to Italy. After a few weeks, Leonardo walked in to meet Geri at his shop, introduced himself, and told him that he had the Mona Lisa with him at the hotel where he was staying.
Geri contacted Poggi, and the three men went to Leonardo’s hotel room. Leonardo removed a package from underneath his bed, unpacked it, and revealed the Mona Lisa. The two men were stunned!
Leonardo expressed his desire to return the masterpiece to Italy in exchange for money. Geri and Poggi said they needed to confirm the authenticity of the painting before the deal, which could be done at the Uffizi Gallery. Leonardo agreed. Geri and Poggi left Leonardo’s room with the painting.
At the gallery, both examined the painting and confirmed that it was indeed the original Mona Lisa. They immediately contacted the police, who nabbed Leonardo from his hotel room. Eventually, the Mona Lisa was returned to the Louvre.
How to steal a painting and get away with it
Upon investigation, Leonardo turned out to be none other than 32-year-old Vincenzo Peruggia. He was an Italian and an ex-employee of the Louvre. He had been entrusted with the job of adding a protective case to the paintings at the museum, including the Mona Lisa. As a result, Peruggia was familiar with the painting’s casing and the museum’s layout.
He knew the Louvre would be closed on Monday, so he entered the museum on Sunday and stayed overnight. Hidden inside a closet! On Monday, he sensed the right opportunity and appeared out of the closet and approached the painting. He removed the casing that he had installed, unhooked the Mona Lisa, and removed the frame. He then wrapped the painting in a piece of cloth and proceeded towards the exit.
The only obstacle between the thief and a successful heist was a locked door. Peruggia struggled to unlock the door and even broke the knob. That’s when a helpful plumber saw the man’s struggle and opened the door for him with his key. Peruggia nonchalantly walked out of the museum with the Mona Lisa! He had the painting with him until he chose to contact Alfredo Geri in 1913.
The end
Peruggia was tried in Italy and incarcerated for around seven months. After his release, he even went on to serve in the Italian Army during the First World War.
Eventually, Vincenzo Peruggia died in 1925 and went into the history books as the man responsible for the greatest art theft of the 20th century.
A twist in the tale?
In 1932, an American journalist, Karl Decker revealed that a con-man, Marques de Valfierno had orchestrated the entire Mona Lisa heist by hiring Vincenzo Peruggia to steal the painting.
As per the journalist, Valfierno had struck six separate deals with six American art enthusiasts convincing them that he was going to steal the Mona Lisa and could sell it to them. Once Vincenzo Peruggia stole the Mona Lisa, Valfierno sold the six fake copies of the Mona Lisa to the six art collectors for millions of dollars and pulled off the perfect con.
However, without substantial evidence to support Karl Decker’s story, this perfect con was reduced to a conspiracy theory.
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Disclaimer: There are several versions of this story doing the rounds. However, the events narrated above are based on the following sources and some creative liberty has been taken in the narration.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Lisa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincenzo_Peruggia#cite_note-monalisa25-5
https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2009/05/mona-lisa-excerpt200905
https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2013/12/the-mona-lisa-heist/
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