The theft of Da Vinci's Mona Lisa from the Louvre in 1911 ranks pretty high of art heists in history. On August 20, 1911, at the Louvre, one of the world’s best-known museums in Paris, an Italian employee of the museum, Vincenzo Perugia, simply slipped the painting under his jacket and walked out of the door.
The painting was discovered missing the next day, yet no one contacted the police. How come? You may ask, but it was actually because the workers at the museum assumed that the painting had been taken to the in-house studio to be photographed for marketing purposes! And still it wasn’t until the next day that the alarm bells went off and the museum immediately called the police. Surprisingly one of the world’s best-known museum like that was cleared of visitors in no time! And later on a thorough search was conducted of the premises. The Mona Lisa was nowhere to be found. The police interviewed as many people as they could who might have any information concerning the lost masterpiece, and so, the theft instantly became an international sensation
On December 10, 1913, Vincenzo, using the alias Leonardo Vincenzo, spoke with art dealer Alfredo Geri at his Florence, Italy, office. Vincenzo told Geri that the Mona Lisa was in his possession and that he wanted to sell it for 500,000 lire. Geri was initially skeptical, yet he decided to view the painting at Vincenzo’s hotel room the next day.
Geri and his friend, Giovanni Poggi, the director of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, met with Vincenzo as planned and talked about the painting. Vincenzo gave Geri and Poggi permission to take the painting to a museum as he waited patiently in his hotel room. After the painting was authenticated, police arrested Vincenzo, who eventually admitted his crime.
He was jailed for just a few months and was hailed a hero by the Italian public. Can you believe it? A hero! For stealing a worldwide most known art piece just because he believed the work should be reclaimed by his country!! But well, despite his efforts, Mona Lisa finally made its way back to the Louvre in 1913! :D
Well my little good children, I hope you did enjoy it because I actually did! :B Because, I think it’s quite interesting how that easy it was to get such an art work out of a really popular and big museum without being noticed! AND then to hide during 2 years aprox. Don’t you think so? If you’ll like, you can look for more specific information in the web pages from which I took out this data. Well, see you next week! :)
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Bibliography.-
Bell, Rachael. truTV. "Sensational Art Heists." http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/outlaws/major_art_thefts/index.html.
Iqbal, Nosheen. guardian.co.uk. Thursday 19 de February de 2009. http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2009/feb/19/greatest-art-heists-in-pictures#/?picture=343500670&index=0
Wow!! It is really interesting now I know the Mona Lisa has been stolen. =D As I was reading your blog I was trying to imagine how could a normal person took out such an art pieces as the Mona Lisa without being caught up by the museum guards. So that means that the security around museums is not really watching the art pieces?? And how could Vincenzo tried to sell a stolen art piece that is just madness and stupid; it is like saying “hello I am the one who stole the Mona Lisa, but do you want to buy it? You can even take it to see the authenticity and then pay me, oh! by the way try to be discrete because the police does not know I am the thief.” Anyway excellent research, it was a very curious story I am sure that I will never forget this, so thank you!! =D
ResponderEliminarDear Epy
ResponderEliminarI really enjoy to read this article and I can’t imagine how normal people can stole art pieces without been detected, that is so bad because that tell us how the security people is not so secure :p, but anyway, and why Vincenzo call the police to tell them that he have the painting and he will sell to them that is so stupid I think that he will have to contact a rich people who wanted the paint and sell it to that person , not to the museum where he stole the painting.
Anyway it is cool that the police caught him, but sad because he only has a few months.
Well I really like your blog and continue writing this awesome stories! =D
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Hi Epy,
ResponderEliminarI liked your post a lot.
The same as Karla I think it is interesting that an employee of the Louvre Museum stole the Mona Lisa. I thought that would be normal if another person would be the thief and robbed it at night(like the movies), but that it was an employee who slipped the painting under his jacket and then just walked out the door, that’s simply so ludicrous, really I’m incredulous.
Thanks for the information, it is a curious fact that I didn’t know, neither had imagined(to steal painting by hide it under your jacket).
Good bye, GBU.
Hi Epy! Well, first of all I really liked your post! I think it is very interesting (and somehow funny) how the Mona Lisa was once stolen by an employee of the museum, and the worse thing is that they didn't even see him. It is incredible how they found out the painting was missing until the next day! I think this would be impossible to do nowadays... The Mona Lisa has almost the same protection the president has, and it would be EXTREMELY difficult and basically impossible to steal it.
ResponderEliminarFinally, I found it really ironic when the thief was declared a national hero in Italy! Well, I think art has a really intriguing history... Thanks for the post Epy!
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Alejandra Treviño Lozano A01280206
Darío Chapa A01280137
ResponderEliminarHi, epy, congratulations on the blog it looks cool and the design is very good. Actually i would never think about a teacher asking us to write about thieves, and here we are. In my opinion, this kinds of events are quite important because they reveal each of the weak spots of the security systems. And it was funny to think that hiding the Mona Lisa inside the jacket actually worked in one of the most famous museums of the world. And it was quite a lack of intelligence the fact that the guy was caught trying to sell the paint, he even confessed the crime. But I was thinking about the paint, was it not damaged by the jacket when it was robbed? I ask these because I thought that the museums use a lot of procedures trying to avoid damages of age in the paintings, with nowadays technology. Regarding the people thinking of the thief as a hero I think that is because he just make history, “the man who steal the Mona Lisa” in my opinion its sounds pretty well, legendary would be the best word to describe it, because both the museum and the painting had worldwide fame so the thief gained more fame. Well beside that fact I think that story is fascinating, I hope that you would continue your blog even if you didn´t need it to the English grade, because it’s interesting, short and easy to read not like “1984” (just kidding teacher, I know that you will read this).
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Hey Epy, loved your blog :) Thanks to you I now know what art heists are. I think it's a very interesting topic: Learning how some famous artworks were stolen from museums. I can't believe how easy it was for someone to steal "The Mona Lisa". I think they should've had a better security system. Probably the Louvre's security is a hundred times better than it was before. I'd love to hear about more famous art heist from all over the world, I can't wait to read your next entries :) Good luck!
ResponderEliminar