The theft that propelled the Mona Lisa to international fame.
Written by Yusif Babayev
Louis Béroud was a painter in early 20th-century who made copies of artworks and sold them as souvenirs to tourists visiting Paris. One day, he decided to paint a copy of the Mona Lisa. On a hot August day in 1911, he gathered his brushes, canvas and other tools he needed for the painting and set off for the Louvre. He arrived at the Salon Carré and was shocked by what he saw—or rather, what he didn’t see. The Mona Lisa was missing. He assumed the painting had been taken to be photographed. He asked a museum employee when the painting would be returned. The employee contacted the photo studio, which confirmed they did not have the Mona Lisa. Only then the museum staff realized that it had been stolen. They realized 28 hours after the theft.
Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is the most popular painting today, but she wasn’t that popular at the time. Millions of people who visit the Louvre today wouldn’t leave the museum without seeing her, but back then, this portrait wasn’t a priority for visitors. Many people had never even heard of her. Because she wasn’t as popular as she is now, the theft went unnoticed for more than a day. If Louis Béroud had not come to the museum to paint the copy of the Mona Lisa, when would the museum authorities have realized the painting was gone? Unfortunately, the answer to this question is not in this article. However, the answers to more important questions— Who stole the Mona Lisa? How did the theft happen? How was the thief caught? Did this theft contribute to the Mona Lisa’s fame and increase its value?—are.
After the theft was discovered, an army of police surrounded the Louvre. All visitors were checked and escorted out of the building. Then, Prefect Louis Lépine, chief of the Parisian police, ordered all museum entrances and exits to be locked.
Prefect Lépine was the most important police officer in France, he had an excellent reputation. He was someone who was guaranteed to solve the case, he was kind of “Sherlock Holmes”. When he arrived at the museum to investigate, he brought a team of 60 detectives with him. At the time, everyone believed this would be a piece of cake for Prefect Lépine and that he would solve the case quickly.
The crime scene investigation had begun. A few hours later, a frame and glass were found in a recess in one of the stairwells. A museum employee confirmed that the frame belonged to the Mona Lisa. Search efforts continued for days in the 60,000-square-meter museum, but the painting could not be found. Prefect Lépine sealed the French borders to entry. Trains and cars leaving France were subjected to very strict inspections. An international investigation was launched. Ships going to other countries were subjected to very detailed inspections upon arrival.
When Alphonse Bertillon examined the frame and glass, he found a fingerprint, but he could not determine which finger it belonged to. There were approximately 750,000 fingerprints in the system, and matching them one by one was nearly impossible. No leads came from the fingerprint.
The investigation was getting deeper. A museum employee said that he last saw the Mona Lisa at 7:30 a.m. on Monday, August 21, and when he passed through the Salon Carré an hour later, it was gone. It was later discovered that the usual security guard at the Salon Carré had not come to work that day because one of his children had measles. When the security guard who replaced him was interrogated, it was discovered that he had left the Salon Carré at around 8:00 a.m. to smoke a cigarette. The theft occurred between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m. The day of the theft had caught the attention of Prefect Lépine. He realized that Monday was the ideal day for the theft because the Louvre was closed to visitors on Mondays due to cleaning. Prefect Lépine thought that the thief might be an insider. About 256 museum employees were interrogated in detail. Police took their fingerprints, but none of them matched the fingerprint found on the protective glass.
The theft of the Mona Lisa made headlines around the world. Many newspapers dedicated columnss for the case for a long time in their publications. Although the Mona Lisa was not as famous as she is today, these news attracted people’s attention. Millions of people followed the developments related to the theft closely. Knowing that the story related this would sell millions of copies, newspapers announced that they would give rewards for the information about Mona Lisa. Therefore, hundreds of false leads were circulated for a long time and it complicated the investigation.
The museum reopened a week after the theft. Ironically, people who had never bothered to see the Mona Lisa when it was there now rushed to the Salon Carré. The theft was a major scandal for the French. One of the French newspaper accused art collector American businessman J.P. Morgan for bankrolling the theft—without any evidence. Since there was high tension between Germany and France — If we look at the period when the theft took place, it was 3 years before WWI, so there was tension between all European countries at that time — there were even those who attributed the theft to Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany.
Seventeen days after the theft, according to the information received from one of the newspapers, the artist Pablo Picasso was arrested. He had purchased statues stolen from Louvre. Police searched his studio, they found the statues, but there was no Mona Lisa. Picasso was released. Another suspect was Picasso’s friend poet Guillaume Apollinaire. However he wasn’t the one who stole the Mona Lisa either. Apollinaire, who was detained for several days, was also released.
It had been two years since the theft, the French had given up hope of finding the Mona Lisa. The thief was actually successful? He disappeared with the Mona Lisa without leaving any trace behind? No. Two years after she had been stolen, Mona Lisa was found in Florence, Italy.
The person who stole the Mona Lisa was Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian handyman. He was poorly educated and very poor. He had worked at Louvre for brief time as a handyman and helped construct protective cases for several paintings, including possibly the Mona Lisa. Because of this experience, he knew how the protective case and frame were assembled. Therefore, without wasting time, he was able to quickly separate the painting from the frame without damaging it.
In 1911, after the interrogation of the permanent museum staff, detectives began to interrogate the temporary workers. At this time, Peruggia was also interrogated. Since he didn’t go to the police station, officers came to his apartment in Paris to interrogate him—twice. They were just steps away from the Mona Lisa— twice! Peruggia had a criminal record for several crimes and had been arrested twice. Although Prefect Lépine was aware of his criminal past, he did not believe he was a master criminal enough to steal the Mona Lisa from the Louvre. For him, there was a certain type of person who could steal the painting from the Louvre, someone who was cultured and sophisticated.
Police have got the fingerprints of all the permanent staff, but not the temporary workers. Detectives interrogated Peruggia and believed his statements. They searched his apartment and found nothing. Peruggia hid the Mona Lisa in the false bottom of his trunk and the police, who didn’t search very thoroughly, didn’t look there. They concluded that he was not a prime suspect. They didn’t even put his name on the list to take his fingerprints.
In November 1913, Peruggia saw an advertisement in a newspaper by antique dealer Alfredo Geri. He wrote a letter to Geri, stating that he had the Mona Lisa and he wanted to sell it. He asked 500,000 Italian lire for the work of art. He signed the letter with the name “Leonardo V.” and sent it. A few weeks later, Peruggia took his trunk and went to Florence, Italy. Geri arranged a meeting with Leonardo and brought Giovanni Pogii, director of the Museo Nazionale del Bargello, to verify the painting’s authenticity. On December 17, 1913, they met at the hotel where Leonardo was staying. Leonardo unwrapped the red velvet that covered the painting, and voilà! It’s the Mona Lisa. Pogii examined the back of painting and realized that it was the original Mona Lisa. Both of them were shocked. They told Leonardo, “We should take the painting to the museum and examine it there. If it is the original Mona Lisa, we will send your reward”. Leonardo allowed them to take the painting and waited in his hotel room. A few hours later, there was a knock on the door. Peruggia went to open the door thinking that his reward had arrived, but it was the police who knocked on the door. Instead of sending the reward, they sent the police. The police arrested him.
Prefect Lépine wasn’t the one who caught Peruggia. Despite his remarkable achievements, this case remained a black mark on Lépine’s career. He had begun the investigation as a “Sherlock Holmes,” but ended it as an “Inspector Clouseau.”
Peruggia, who appeared in court, stated that he was a patriot. He said Napoleon had stolen da Vinci’s work at the time and he had stolen it and brought it back to Italy where it belonged. Peruggia was sentenced to 1 year and 15 days in prison, which was later reduced to 7 months and 9 days.
The Mona Lisa was exhibited in several cities in Italy before being returned to the Louvre. In January 1914, it was returned to the Louvre and hung in its rightful place. In two days, about a million visitors came to the Louvre to see the painting. Thus, the Mona Lisa became one of the most famous paintings in the world. Although the painting was created by Leonardo da Vinci, it was another Italian, Vincenzo Peruggia, who unexpectedly catapulted it to international fame.
