How a THIEF Made the Mona Lisa Famous

In 1911, an Italian handyman walked out of the Louvre with the Mona Lisa hidden under his smock, and a plumber held the door for him. Vincenzo Peruggia had helped put the painting behind glass, so he knew the museum was closed on Mondays. Nobody noticed it was gone for over a day, because the guards thought it was away being photographed. The theft made front pages around the world, crowds queued to stare at the empty wall, and the police even questioned Peruggia in his room while the painting sat in a trunk. Two years later he took it home to Italy, sure that Napoleon had stolen it, and offered it to a gallery in Florence. They called the police. Napoleon never stole it: Leonardo da Vinci brought it to France himself. The painting went back to the Louvre, more famous than ever. Sources: Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler, The Crimes of Paris (2009); Noah Charney, The Thefts of the Mona Lisa (2011); the Louvre. #history #monalisa #louvre