One of the greatest crimes of the twentieth century took place in 1911…

For centuries Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa has lived in France. Napoleon had her in his bedroom, Louis XIV brought her to Versailles, and eventually she graced the walls of the Louvre. An Italian Louvre employee was resentful of the fact that this painting wasn’t in its homeland. To restore the Mona Lisa to Italy, Vincenzo Peruggia hid her under his coat when the museum closed for the day and took her to Florence. Two years later, Peruggia was caught and the Mona Lisa was returned to Paris. Peruggia, unlike most robbers, was hailed as a patriotic hero and given a mere 7 months in jail.

10 Jul This entry was published on July 10, 2012 at 2:34 PM. It’s filed under architecture, art, Black and White pictures, Fashion, Film, Life, Magazine, News, Photography, The Amused Eye, Travel, True Story and tagged 1911, crime, Florence, France, italy, mona lisa, Paris, stolen, the louvre, theft, Vincenzo Peruggia. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.