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The Thefts of the Mona Lisa

The Complete Story of the World's Most Famous Artwork

ebook
2 of 2 copies available
2 of 2 copies available

"Historian Charney tracks the eventful life of the Mona Lisa in this rollicking account.... The result is both a thrilling tale of true crime and a rigorous work of art history." — Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
From the artwork to its theft and role in popular culture, the critically-acclaimed book The Thefts of the Mona Lisa (Foreword Reviews, Publishers Weekly Starred Review, Shelf Awareness, Booklist, Library Journal, and Kirkus Reviews) provides the complete story of this work of art, as written by a bestselling, Pulitzer finalist author.

Leonardo da Vinci's portrait, called the Mona Lisa, is without doubt the world's most famous painting. It achieved its fame not only because it is a remarkable example of Renaissance portraiture, created by an acclaimed artistic and scientific genius, but because of its criminal history. The Mona Lisa (also called La Gioconda or La Joconde) was stolen on 21 August 1911 by an Italian, Vincenzo Peruggia. Peruggia was under the mistaken impression that the Mona Lisa had been stolen from Italy during the Napoleonic era, and he wished to take back for Italy one of his country's greatest treasures. His successful theft of the painting from the Louvre, the farcical manhunt that followed, and Peruggia's subsequent trial in Florence were highly publicized, sparking the attention of the international media, and catapulting an already admired painting into stratospheric heights of fame. This book reveals the art and criminal history of the Mona Lisa.

Charney examines the criminal biography of Leonardo's Mona Lisa, with a focus on separating fact from fiction in the story of what is not only the most famous art heist in history, but which is the single most famous theft of all time. In the process he delves into Leonardo's creation of the Mona Lisa, discusses why it is so famous, and investigates two other events in its history of theft and renown. First, it examines the so-called "affaire des statuettes," in which Pablo Picasso and Guillaume Apollinaire were arrested under suspicion of involvement in the theft of the Mona Lisa. Second, there has long been a question as to whether the Nazis stole the Mona Lisa during the Second World War—a question that this book seeks to resolve.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from November 20, 2023
      Historian Charney (Brushed Aside) tracks the eventful life of the Mona Lisa in this rollicking account. Florentine nobleman Francesco del Giocondo commissioned Leonardo da Vinci to paint a portrait of his wife Lisa in 1503. When the artist died in 1519 France, the still-unfinished painting passed into the hands of his assistant Salai, who sold it to French king François I. Following that exchange, the painting came into the possession of Napoleon, who hung it on his bedroom wall at the Tuilleries Palace. In the early 1800s, it became part of the permanent collection at the Louvre, from where it was stolen in 1911 by Italian handyman Vincenzo Peruggia, who sought to “repatriate” the painting to Florence, falsely believing that Napoleon had looted it from his country a century before. (At one point during the ensuing investigation, suspicion fell on Pablo Picasso because he’d bought Iberian statues stolen from the Louvre several years before.) After the Mona Lisa was recovered in 1913 with the help of an Italian gallery owner, French curators hid the artwork in chateaus during WWII, though Charney notes a nearly three-year gap in which its whereabouts are still undocumented. Throughout, Charney succeeds in separating myth and legend from fact as he uncovers the background behind the artwork’s celebrity. The result is both a thrilling tale of true crime and a rigorous work of art history.

    • Booklist

      January 1, 2024
      According to Charney (The 12-Hour Art Expert, 2022), "every year anywhere from fifty thousand to one hundred thousand art objects are reported stolen worldwide." Among the most notorious of these crimes is Vincenzo Peruggia's 1911 theft of Leonardo's Mona Lisa. This book recounts the story of that crime and delivers a complete portrait of the famous painting, including its role in popular culture. Charney begins by explaining the Mona Lisa's importance in the history of art. From there he launches into an account of some other early twentieth-century art thefts that preceded Peruggia's crime, manhunt, and subsequent trial. Deftly separating fact from fiction and cutting through the many myths and misconceptions that have grown around the portrait over the years, Charney answers questions such as: Is the painting a self-portrait? Did the Nazis steal it? A time line, source notes, and a selected bibliography finish off this delicious blend of art history and true crime that will appeal to fans of both.

      COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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  • English

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