The night of August 21-22, 1911, was unlike any other. It is a symbolic date for Italian artistic tradition and fervent patriotism. On that night, Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian employee of the Louvre Museum, stole the Mona Lisa to reclaim it as Italian property. This is the story of the most famous art theft in history.
Vincenzo Peruggia, the “mentally diminished” thief
Vincenzo was a man of humble origins: the story begins in 1881 with his birth in the small town of Dumenza, near the Swiss border. At the age of 18, he left for Lyon, France, with his mason father and learned the trade of masonry and painting—skills that would later prove very useful in carrying out the theft.
In 1907, he settled permanently in Paris and joined the Louvre’s cleaning crew. He was also one of the workers responsible for covering the paintings with glass and repairing the protections in case of breakage.
Leonardo da Vinci is Italian, so the Mona Lisa belongs in Italy
Vincenzo Peruggia was always a staunch patriot. In his view, the Mona Lisa had no reason to be kept at the Louvre in Paris, and he set himself a goal: to bring it back to Italy and, if possible, make some money in the process.
So, on the night of August 21-22, 1911, the Italian didn’t think twice. He was about to carry out the theft of the century, though he didn’t know it yet.
On the morning of August 21, he went to work as usual to perform his job as a copyist. However, it was a Monday, the day the museum was closed to the public. He entered through the workers’ entrance, removed the painting from the wall, and with his experience, also removed the protective glass. After all, he was the one who had installed it, so it was a piece of cake. He hid the painting under his coat, walked out of the museum, and got into a taxi.
With today’s security systems, this story might seem surreal, but it’s been over 100 years!
H3: The Mona Lisa has been stolen!
The police were in the dark. We must recognize that Peruggia holds a significant record. Not only did he succeed in pulling off the most famous art theft in history, but he also carried out the first certified museum theft in history.
There were no clues, no credible witnesses; everything seemed smooth and free of any danger. The police began questioning the workers who noticed the theft the next day, but without much success. Even Pablo Picasso was questioned but later released. In this moment of doubt and uncertainty, the empty space left by the Mona Lisa was filled with Raphael’s painting “Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione“.
But in all this, what happened to the Mona Lisa?
Vincenzo Peruggia jealously guarded the painting under the bed of a Parisian boarding house for a full 28 months. In a statement, he even claimed to have had moments of romance with the Mona Lisa; a story as bizarre as it is comical. A morbid relationship developed that led to the term Peruggismo, a mix of extreme patriotism and attachment, tinged with a bit of humor.
The Italian decorator wanted to gift it to Italy, because, as he saw it, Leonardo da Vinci was Italian. But considering the efforts and risks involved in stealing it, why not make some money as well?
The false move and arrest
In 1913, our charming thief went to Florence and, with an anonymous letter signed “Leonardo,” offered the painting to an antique dealer in exchange for 500,000 lire.
Suspicious, the antique dealer set up a meeting at the current Hotel Gioconda in Florence (then known as Hotel Tripoli), accompanied by the director of the Uffizi Gallery. Once the painting’s authenticity was confirmed, Peruggia was arrested and sentenced to one year and 15 days in prison, a sentence later reduced by 5 months.
The original painting by Leonardo, now in Italy, was first exhibited at the Uffizi, then at the Galleria Borghese for Christmas 1913, and at the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan. After its tour of various Italian museums, it returned to France, where today it attracts more than 30,000 visitors a day. According to estimates, what is likely one of the most famous paintings in history draws about 80% of the Louvre’s total daily visitors.
In short, Vincenzo Peruggia’s story ultimately ended with a simple ransom request, but it significantly contributed to fueling the hype surrounding the beloved Mona Lisa, which, although housed in France, remains a source of pride for the Italian tricolor.
