The Mona Lisa is a half-length portrait by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci, celebrated as an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance. Described as "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, [and] the most parodied work of art in the world," its unique qualities include the subject’s enigmatic expression, the monumentality of the composition, the subtle modeling of forms, and the atmospheric illusionism.
Traditionally believed to depict the Italian noblewoman Lisa del Giocondo, the painting is executed in oil on a white Lombardy poplar panel. Leonardo never gave the painting to the Giocondo family. It is thought to have been painted between 1503 and 1506, although Leonardo may have continued working on it until as late as 1517. After Leonardo's death in 1519, King Francis I of France acquired the Mona Lisa, and it is now owned by the French Republic. It has been on display at the Louvre in Paris since 1797.
But how did this painting receive global fame and popularity?
Well, this is mainly due to the theft by Vincenzo Peruggia in 1911.
Vincenzo Peruggia was an Italian museum worker, artist, and thief born on October 8, 1881, in Dumenza, a small village in the Italian Alps near the Swiss border.
After moving to Paris in 1908, Peruggia worked at the Musée du Louvre, cleaning and reframing paintings. Some accounts suggest that his job involved constructing sturdy cases for artworks, including one for Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.
In 1911, Peruggia committed what is often described as the greatest art theft of the 20th century.
During his interrogation in Florence following his arrest on December 12, 1913, Peruggia claimed that he entered the Louvre on Monday, August 21, 1911, around 7 am. Wearing one of the white workmen's smocks that museum employees commonly wore, he blended in with the other workers. When the Salon Carré, where the Mona Lisa was displayed, was empty, he lifted the painting off the four iron pegs securing it to the wall between Correggio's Mystical Marriage and Titian's Allegory of Alfonso d'Avalos. He then took it to a nearby service stairway. There, he removed its protective case and frame, hiding the discarded parts behind some student artworks stored on the staircase landing. Although some reports suggest he concealed the painting under his smock, Peruggia, who was only 160 centimeters (63 inches) tall, later explained that he wrapped the painting in his smock and tucked it under his arm before leaving through the same door he had entered.
Peruggia hid the painting in his Paris apartment.
In September 1911, after interrogating all permanent Louvre staff, the gendarmerie began interviewing other workers, including bricklayers, decorators, and short-term hires. Officers visited Peruggia's apartment twice to question him about his possible involvement but did not consider him a primary suspect.
After hiding the painting in a trunk in his apartment for two years, Peruggia returned to Italy with it. He kept it in his Florence apartment for some time. Eventually growing impatient, he contacted Mario Fratelli, an art gallery owner in Florence. Fratelli's account conflicts with Peruggia's, but it is clear that Peruggia expected a reward for returning the painting to its "homeland." Fratelli called Giovanni Poggi, director of the Uffizi Gallery, who authenticated the painting. Poggi and Fratelli, after taking the painting for "safekeeping," informed the police, who arrested Peruggia at his hotel.
After its recovery, the Mona Lisa was exhibited throughout Italy, with banner headlines celebrating its return. It was then returned to the Louvre in 1913. While the painting was famous before the theft, the notoriety from the media coverage and the extensive police investigation helped it become one of the most recognized artworks in the world, significantly increasing public interest.
Motivations
There are two predominant theories regarding the theft of the Mona Lisa. Peruggia claimed he stole the painting for patriotic reasons, wanting to return it to Italy for display. He believed it had been stolen by Napoleon, having learned during his time at the Louvre about Napoleon's plundering of Italian art during the Napoleonic Wars. Perhaps sincere in his motive, Vincenzo may not have known that Leonardo da Vinci took the painting to France as a gift for Francis I when he moved there to become the king's court painter in the 16th century, long before Napoleon's birth.
Experts have questioned Peruggia's "patriotism" motive, arguing that if it were genuine, he would have donated the painting to an Italian museum rather than attempting to profit from its sale. This suspicion is supported by letters Peruggia sent to his father after the theft. On December 22, 1911, four months after the theft, he wrote that Paris was where he would "make [his] fortune," and the following year, he mentioned a "prize" that he would realize for his family.
At his trial, the court somewhat accepted Peruggia's patriotic explanation and gave him a lenient sentence. He was sentenced to one year and 15 days in prison but served only seven months and was hailed as a patriot in Italy.
Another theory suggests that the theft was orchestrated by Eduardo de Valfierno, a con man who had commissioned the French art forger Yves Chaudron to make copies of the painting. Valfierno planned to sell these copies as the missing original, which would have increased in value if the original were stolen. This theory is based entirely on a 1932 article by former Hearst journalist Karl Decker in The Saturday Evening Post. Decker claimed to have known Valfierno and heard the story from him in 1913, promising not to publish it until Valfierno's death. However, there is no external confirmation for this theory.
Later Life
Peruggia was released from jail after a short time and served in the Italian army during World War I. During the war, he was captured by Austria-Hungary and held as a POW for two years until the war ended and he was released. He later married, had one daughter named Celestina, and returned to France, continuing to work as a painter and decorator under his birth name, Pietro Peruggia. He died on October 8, 1925, his 44th birthday, in the Paris suburb of Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, France, and was buried in the Condé Cemetery of Saint-Maur-des-Fossés. In the 1950s, his remains were exhumed and relocated to the cemetery bonelocker.
His death in 1925 was not widely reported by the media, possibly because he died under the name Pietro Peruggia. Obituaries mistakenly appeared when another Vincenzo Peruggia died in Haute-Savoie in 1947.
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