Vincenzo Peruggia (October 8, 1881,
DumenzaDumenza is a comune in the Province of Varese in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northwest of Milan and about north of Varese, on the border with Switzerland....
,
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
- September 2, 1947,
AnnemasseAnnemasse is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.It lies on the border with Switzerland.-Geography:Annemasse is part of the metropolitan area of Geneva....
,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
) was the man who once stole the
Mona LisaMona Lisa is a 16th century portrait painted in oil on a poplar panel by Leonardo da Vinci during the Italian Renaissance. The work is owned by the Government of France and is on the wall in the Louvre in Paris, France with the title Portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo...
.
In 1911 Vincenzo Perugia perpetrated what has been described as the greatest
art theftArt theft is the theft of art. This is usually done for the purpose of resale or ransom; occasionally thieves are also commissioned by dedicated private collectors...
of the 20th century. The former
LouvreThe Musée du Louvre or officially the Grand Louvre — in English, the Louvre Museum or Great Louvre, or simply the Louvre — is the largest national museum of France, the most visited museum in the world, and a historic monument. It is a central landmark of Paris, located on the Right Bank of the...
worker hid inside the museum on Sunday, August 20, knowing that the museum would be closed the following day. Emerging from his hiding place on Monday morning, he wore one of the white artists' smocks that museum employees customarily wore and was indistinguishable from the other workers.
Vincenzo Peruggia (October 8, 1881,
DumenzaDumenza is a comune in the Province of Varese in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northwest of Milan and about north of Varese, on the border with Switzerland....
,
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
- September 2, 1947,
AnnemasseAnnemasse is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.It lies on the border with Switzerland.-Geography:Annemasse is part of the metropolitan area of Geneva....
,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
) was the man who once stole the
Mona LisaMona Lisa is a 16th century portrait painted in oil on a poplar panel by Leonardo da Vinci during the Italian Renaissance. The work is owned by the Government of France and is on the wall in the Louvre in Paris, France with the title Portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo...
.
Theft
In 1911 Vincenzo Perugia perpetrated what has been described as the greatest
art theftArt theft is the theft of art. This is usually done for the purpose of resale or ransom; occasionally thieves are also commissioned by dedicated private collectors...
of the 20th century. The former
LouvreThe Musée du Louvre or officially the Grand Louvre — in English, the Louvre Museum or Great Louvre, or simply the Louvre — is the largest national museum of France, the most visited museum in the world, and a historic monument. It is a central landmark of Paris, located on the Right Bank of the...
worker hid inside the museum on Sunday, August 20, knowing that the museum would be closed the following day. Emerging from his hiding place on Monday morning, he wore one of the white artists' smocks that museum employees customarily wore and was indistinguishable from the other workers. When the Salon Carre where the Mona Lisa hung was empty, he lifted it from the wall and took it to an enclosed stairwell. There he removed the protective case and frame and concealed the painting (which Leonardo painted on wood) under his smock. He left the Louvre with it, passing a guard station which had been left unattended by a guard who had gone to obtain a pail of water.
Vincenzo hid the painting in his apartment in Paris. Supposedly, when police arrived to search his apartment and question him, they accepted his alibi that he had been working at a different location on the day of the theft.
After keeping the painting hidden in a trunk in his apartment for two years, Peruggia returned to Italy with it. He kept it in his apartment in
FlorenceFlorence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence...
but grew impatient and was finally caught when he contacted Alfredo Geri, the owner of an art gallery in Florence, Italy. Geri's story conflicts with Perugia's, but it was clear that Perugia expected a reward for returning the painting to what he regarded as its "homeland." Geri called in Giovanni Poggi, director of the Uffizi Gallery, who authenticated the painting. Poggi and Geri, after taking the painting for "safekeeping," informed the police, who arrested Perugia at his hotel.
After its recovery, the painting was exhibited all over Italy with banner headlines rejoicing its return and then returned to the Louvre in 1914.
Peruggia was released from jail after a short time and served in the Italian army during World War I. He got married, returned to France and opened a paint store. He died on September 2, 1947 in the town of Annemasse, France.
Motivations
No definitive motive exists, however there are currently two theories.
Peruggia said he did it for a patriotic reason: he wanted to bring the painting back for display in
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
after it was stolen by Napoleon. Although perhaps sincere in his motive, Vincenzo may not have known that
Leonardo da VinciLeonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian polymath, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer....
took this painting as a gift for
Francis IFrancis I , was king of France from 1515 until his death.Francis I is considered to be France's first Renaissance monarch. His reign saw France make immense cultural advances...
when he moved to
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
to become a painter in his court.
Some have also questioned the "patriotism" motive on the grounds that -- were patriotism the true motive -- Peruggia would have donated the painting to an Italian museum, rather than attempt to profit from its sale. However it is believed that the "friend" was the one who attempted to profit from the sale since Peruggia never divulged its secret for nearly two years.
Put on trial, the court agreed to some extent that Peruggia committed his crime for patriotic reasons and gave him a lenient sentence. He was sent to jail for one year and fifteen days, but was hailed as a great patriot in Italy and served only a few months in jail.
Another theory emerged later. The theft may have been encouraged or master-minded by
Eduardo de ValfiernoEduardo de Valfierno, who referred to himself as Marqués , was an Argentine con man who allegedly masterminded the theft of the Mona Lisa. Valfierno paid several men to steal the work of art from the Louvre, including museum employee Vincenzo Peruggia...
, a con-man who had commissioned the French art forger
Yves ChaudronYves Chaudron was a French art forger who copied images of the Mona Lisa in the famous 1911 Mona Lisa painting theft.-External links:*...
to make copies of the painting so he could sell them as the missing original. The copies would have gone up in value if the original was stolen. This theory is based entirely on an article by former Hearst journalist Karl Decker in The Saturday Evening Post in 1932. Decker claimed to have known "Valfierno" and heard the story from him in 1913, promising not to print it until he learned of Valfierno's death. There is no external confirmation for this tale.
In Film
He was portrayed in
an early German soundfilmDer Raub der Mona Lisa is a 1931 German film directed by Géza von Bolváry. It is based on a true story.- Plot :...
by Willi Frost in 1931, and in a television-miniseries called
The Man Who Stole La Gioconda by Alessandro Preziosi in 2006. In an April 1956 episode of the tv-show
You Are There, called "The Recovery of the Mona Lisa (December 10, 1913)", Peruggia is played by
Vito ScottiVito Scotti was a veteran character actor who played many roles, primarily from the late 1940s to the mid-1990s. He was known as a man of a thousand face, for his ability to assume so many divergent roles in more than 200 screen roles, in a nearly 50 year career. He was known for his resourceful...
, who reprised the role in yet another tv-reconstruction of the famous theft, this time for the tv-show
G.E. True. The episode was called
The Tenth Mona Lisa and aired in March 1963.