WHAT IT IS Pilfering the world’s best-known portrait
WHY YOU WON’T DO IT There is no better protected ‘enigmatic smile’ in the world
The most famous artwork in the world, the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci takes pride of place in the Louvre in Paris. The portrait of Lisa, wife of Francesco del Giocondo (hence the work’s alternative name La Gioconda) was considered unfinished by the artist at the time of his death in 1519. Seen by some 8 million people per year, it is among the world’s best-guarded treasures.
As one of the world’s leading museums, the converted French royal palace of the Louvre today combines the strength of a medieval castle with the latest in hightech security, making it a fitting home for many of the greatest art treasures in the world. More than a thousand guards patrol the building around the clock, and 8.9 million tourists amble through its maze-like complex of galleries every year (an average of almost 29,000 each day), and most of them make a beeline for the enormous hall known as the Salle des États.
Here, in incongruously modernist surroundings (the Salle was refurbished in 2005), the Mona Lisa sits in a custom-built, climate-controlled, sealed frame, smiling her enigmatic smile from behind 5-centimetre-thick (2-in) bulletproof glass. A table-like platform built into the wall beneath her stops visitors from getting within 2.4 metres (8 ft), cameras keep her under constant video surveillance and motion sensors ensure no unauthorized person thinks about getting too close. All in all, your chances of grabbing some ‘alone time’ with the most famous woman in the world are close to zero.
SAFE RETURN Italian and French officials celebrate La Gioconda’s return to her home in the Louvre in December 1913, following her theft more than two years previously. The disappearance of the Mona Lisa and her later restoration played a key role in turning the painting into the international icon it remains to this day.
It wasn’t always this way, however. A century ago, La Gioconda hadn’t quite become the global icon she is today, and her surroundings were a lot more lowkey. As a result, one man did famously succeed in stealing the masterpiece.
The name of this daredevil was Vincenzo Peruggia, an amateur artist born near Milan. Despite spending several years living in Paris, he remained a firm Italian nationalist and laboured under the misapprehension that the Mona Lisa had been looted from Italy by Napoleon.
While the Louvre did (and still does) contain many works obtained like this, the Mona Lisa was not one of them – she was bought entirely legally by the French King Francis I (a significant patron of Da Vinci) shortly after the artist’s death.
Obsessed with the idea of returning Mona Lisa to her homeland, Peruggia spent several months in 1911 working as a handyman at the Louvre, becoming familiar with the layout of the museum and the habits of its employees.
On Sunday, 20 August 1911 he put his plan into action. Wearing his museum uniform so that he could move around unchallenged, he concealed himself in a storeroom overnight, only to emerge on Monday morning (at the time, the museum’s traditional closure day). Mingling with the maintenance crews, Peruggia then made his way to the Mona Lisa, lifted her from the wall in the Salon Carré and made his way to the relative privacy of a stairwell – all without encountering a single guard. Cutting the painting from its cumbersome frame, he wrapped La Gioconda in a sheet, tucked her under his arm and made for the exit – only to find he was locked in. Just as Peruggia must have thought that the game was up, a plumber appeared and seeing a colleague in official uniform (but not noticing the frame now propped up against the wall), used his set of keys to liberate the thief. The Mona Lisa’s disappearing act was not discovered until the Louvre reopened to the public on the Tuesday morning.
Vincenzo Peruggia took the picture to his apartment, where he kept it for two years without attracting suspicion. He then smuggled the Mona Lisa to Florence, and contacted art dealer Alfredo Geri, claiming he wanted to return her to her rightful home. However, Geri called in an expert from the Uffizi Gallery to confirm its authenticity, and Peruggia served seven months in prison, though he also became something of a national hero in some quarters. Mona Lisa, meanwhile, was returned to Paris after a brief tour of Italy.
Needless to say, if you try to emulate Peruggia today, you’ll be up against a lot more security – and it might be worth bearing in mind that the museum’s weekly closures are now on Tuesdays!
