 |
| The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci |
Tina is a painter and she loves Art. They have been talking about one of the most interesting facts that happened on a day like today in 1911 when Vincenzo Peruggia stole the Mona Lisa from the Louvre Museum in Paris.
The Mona Lisa is a half-length portrait painting by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. It is considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, and 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.
The painting's novel qualities include the subject's expression, which is frequently described as enigmatic, the monumentality of the composition, the subtle modelling of forms, and the atmospheric illusionism.
The painting is likely of the Italian noblewoman Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, and is in oil on a white Lombardy poplar panel. It had been believed to have been painted between 1503 and 1506; however, Leonardo may have continued working on it as late as 1517.
Recent academic work suggests that it would not have been started before 1513. It was acquired by King Francis I of France and is now the property of the French Republic itself, on permanent display at the Louvre Museum in Paris since 1797.
The Mona Lisa is one of the most valuable paintings in the world. It holds the Guinness World Record for the highest known insurance valuation in history at US$100 million in 1962, equivalent to $650 million in 2020.
More information: CNN
Vincenzo Peruggia (8 October 1881-8 October 1925) was an Italian museum worker, artist, and thief, most famous for stealing the Mona Lisa on 21 August 1911.
In 1911, Peruggia perpetrated what has been described as the greatest art theft of the 20th century. It was a police theory that the former Louvre worker hid inside the museum on Sunday, 20 August, knowing the museum would be closed the following day. But, according to Peruggia's interrogation in Florence after his arrest, he entered the museum on Monday, 21 August around 7 am, through the door where the other Louvre workers were entering. He said he wore one of the white smocks that museum employees customarily wore and was indistinguishable from the other workers.
 |
| Vincenzo Peruggia |
Some people report that he concealed the painting, which Leonardo painted on wood, under his smock. But Peruggia was only 160 centimetres tall, and the Mona Lisa measures approx. 53 cm × 77 cm, so it would not fit under a smock worn by someone his size.
Instead, he said he took off his smock and wrapped it around the painting, tucked it under his arm, and left the Louvre through the same door he had entered.
Instead, he said he took off his smock and wrapped it around the painting, tucked it under his arm, and left the Louvre through the same door he had entered.
After keeping the painting hidden in a trunk in his apartment for two years, Peruggia returned to Italy with it. He kept it in his apartment in Florence, Italy for some time. However, Peruggia eventually grew impatient, and was finally caught when he contacted Alfredo Geri, the owner of an art gallery in Florence.
Geri's story conflicts with Peruggia's, but it was clear that Peruggia expected a reward for returning the painting to what he regarded as its homeland. Geri called in Giovanni Poggi, director of the Uffizi Gallery, who authenticated the painting. Poggi and Geri, after taking the painting for safekeeping, informed the police, who arrested Peruggia at his hotel.
After its recovery, the painting was exhibited all over Italy with banner headlines rejoicing its return. The Mona Lisa was then returned to the Louvre in 1913. While the painting was famous before the theft, the notoriety it received from the newspaper headlines and the large scale police investigation helped the artwork become one of the best known in the world.
More information: NPR
There are currently two predominant theories regarding the theft of the Mona Lisa.
Peruggia said he did it for a patriotic reason: he wanted to bring the painting back for display in Italy after it was stolen by Napoleon.
Although perhaps sincere in his motive, Vincenzo may not have known that Leonardo da Vinci took this painting as a gift for Francis I when he moved to France to become a painter in his court during the 16th century, 250 years before Napoleon's birth.
 |
| The Louvre, 1911 and 2020 |
The question of money is also confirmed by letters that Peruggia sent to his father after the theft.
On 22 December 1911, four months after the theft, he wrote that Paris was where I will make my fortune and that his (fortune) will arrive in one shot.
The following year (1912), he wrote: I am making a vow for you to live long and enjoy the prize that your son is about to realize for you and for all our family.
Put on trial, the court agreed, to some extent, that Peruggia committed his crime for patriotic reasons and gave him a lenient sentence. He was sent to jail for one year and 15 days, but was hailed as a great patriot in Italy and served only seven months in jail.
Another theory emerged later. The theft may have been encouraged or masterminded by Eduardo de Valfierno, a con-man who had commissioned the French art forger Yves Chaudron to make copies of the painting so he could sell them as the missing original. The copies would have gone up in value if the original were stolen.
More information: Solo Sophie
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 print it until he learned of Valfierno's death. There is no external confirmation for this tale.
Peruggia was released from jail after a short time and served in the Italian army during World War I.
He later married, had one daughter, Celestina, returned to France, and continued to work as a painter decorator using his birth name Pietro Peruggia.
He died on 8 October 1925 (his 44th birthday) in the town of Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, France. His death was not widely reported by the media; obituaries appeared mistakenly only when another Vincenzo Peruggia died in Haute-Savoie in 1947.
More information: The Vintage News
Mona Lisa is the only beauty
who went through history
and retained her reputation.
Will Rogers
No comments:
Post a Comment