Art Snapping: Mona Lisa and the Art Theft of the Century

Art Theft and Art Heist of the Century

So, what really cooked up the craze for Mona Lisa, the world’s most adorable face? Was it her non-decipherable enigmatic half-smile or the desperate attempts to loot this legendary and immortal creation of artist Leonardo de Vinci time and time over? Did you know that Napoleon Bonaparte kept this immortal painting of the mysterious lady in his private collection to adorn his bedroom wall? He enjoyed the privilege of her company for four years after the painting was transferred to the Louvre in Paris, to be exposed to the public gaze! Want to know about the greatest art heist of the century? Did you know that more than 13 artworks were stolen from the prestigious Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in a single day by hoodwinking the security arrangements? That raises many questions regarding the preservation of art and artefacts in a close-walled art gallery set up, bringing to the fore world’s most surviving art heists and robberies. Follow this blog closely to know about the fate of the artworks and how these blood-curdling things happened under much stringent law and protection. So, get your seatbelts fastened as you read about these art snapping tales that lived forever in public imagination. Let’s find out.

‘The Mona Lisa is Gone’

Monalisa Taken from Louvre Museum Paris

August 20, 1911 had seen some raised brows and dropped jaws as the iconic artwork got missing from the gallery wall in Louvre, Paris.

Mona Lisa, known for her elusive smiley look was made famous overnight by a heist in 1911. Do you have any idea what had happened to the 16th century marvel while it was looted from the Louvre only to be restored to its resting place in Paris, France?

Hold your breath as you would be taken to some nerve-chilling heists of all times, including the fate of Mona Lisa, the world’s most candid yet mysterious glance that hit a galore of gazes to feast on her half-smile. And one fine day she vanished into thin air!

That very day in 1911 the security at the Louvre was lenient and foot-traffic was much less. Someone dressed as a museum attendant went stealthily, skulking into the gallery. He was deft enough to stride up to the image, dismantle it from the glass panes and take it under his white apron, and afterwards waltzed away from Louvre. It took some time to reveal the true mastermind behind the theft, Vincenzo Peruggia, a former Louvre employee and Italian immigrant who literally fell in love with the portrait of the lady. He previously worked with Louvre as a handyman, and he wasn’t ready to part with the treasured painting until the probing heat died down and he chanced upon a deal with a rich Florentine art dealer for a handsome reward for returning the artwork. However, fate had some other plans for Peruggia! While he was travelling to Florence, hiding the painting in the bottom of his trunk, he was arrested and Mona Lisa was returned to her resting place in Paris Louvre in January 1914. In the meantime, the painting was exhibited in Uffizi, Italy before it was handed to the Louvre officials.

More than 100,000 people thronged to visit the masterpiece restored to its wall space in the Louvre after its sensational return. And, the craze for the mysterious Mona Lisa skyrocketed as more and more stories about her fascinating smile started circulating, a fresh slew of research was initiated about the relationship of Leonardo de Vinci with the immortal lady, etc. She took a permanent place in advertisement prompts and cartoons, songs and parodies, literature, and write-ups from then on.

The Heist of the Century: The Boston Art Heist of 1990

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Theft

Isabella Stewart Gardner museum theft was another one of the most unnerving art thefts of the century, that remains unresolved. The theft occurred in Boston, on St. Patrick’s Day, where the robbers duped the official guards, dressed as policemen with handcuffs. They tried handcuffing the guards on patrol, and started to loot the masterworks by Vermeer, Rembrandt, Manet, and Degas, taking them out of the frames, dismantling them, smashing, and doing all sorts of vandalism they could perpetrate. As they were rather amateurish, they were not so sure about the worth of several other valuable paintings, so left them out. When they escaped the crime scene they had managed to loot 13 rare art pieces, including the astounding artwork of the bronze eagle finial, the proud winged sculpture, seen for the last time.

The famous stolen paintings that never did return after the Gardner museum heist were the classic ones of Johannes Vermeer ‘The Concert,’ ‘a bronze eagle finial,’ a rare ‘Chinese Shang dynasty Gu,’ master creations like ‘Program for An Artistic Soiree,’ ‘Program for An Artistic Soiree, Study 2,’ ‘La Sortie du Pesage,’ ‘Three Mounted Jockeys,’ by Edgar Degas, ‘Chez Tortini,’ by Eduward Manet, ‘Landscape with Obelisk,’ by Govaert Flinck, ‘Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,’ ‘Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee,’ ‘A Lady and Gentleman in Black,’ by Rembrandt Van Rijn, etc.

There is absolutely no trace of the largest-valued artworks as the thieves managed to escape all the gazes and spotlight, kindling the rumors about the heist connection with the city gangsters. A handsome reward of $500 million is still on for the first-to-grab of the stolen masterpieces. Nothing turned out yet.

The Montreal Fine Arts Muse Heist: The 1972 Art Theft on a Holiday

The Montreal Art Museum Heist

September 4, 1972 in the Montreal Museum was just another day of visit by local spectators and international tourists until something strange happened. Some armed men intruded the seemingly peaceful museum space from a skylight opening which was undergoing a repair then. Perhaps they had taken help from the construction ladder left by workers. They took the guards in control and walked away with 18 precious artworks of all times, like a splendid landscape by Rembrandt (which was worth $20 million alone), artworks by Delacroix, Rubens, Gainsborough, Jan Brueghel the Elder, Corot, etc. along with some jewelry and figurines. This was the major art theft in Canadian art museum history, which happened strangely on a Labor Day holiday, when most of the officials and employees were on vacation! The artworks are still missing except one which was retrieved later on.

Hype was about the connection of the Montreal Mafia gang and the activists of the Quebec movement and the fact that the museum was going through a fund crunch for upgrading security measures. Quite likely, the investigation didn’t gain much pace. There were no official suspects to be called on. Hence, the priceless works didn’t find their way back.

Picasso Artwork Stolen from the Sao Paolo Museum: 3 Minutes Theft

Picasso’s ‘The Portrait of Susan Bloch'

Sao Paolo Museum of Art, Brazil, was another spot for a latest art theft, which claimed Picasso’s ‘The Portrait of Susan Bloch,’ a significant portrait from the last phases of Picasso’s blue period of paintings, which feature Bloch, a sensational singer in Paris, mostly painted in blue and green. Another stolen piece was Candido Portinari’s ‘The Coffee Worker.’ The whole heist incident took place in a few minutes, while three armed men broke into the museum, mocking the lackluster security and insufficient arrangements, like the non-operational alarm bell, insufficient insurance as the museum housed some of the valuable and finest masterpieces of Salvador Dali or Diego Velazquez, the famed Spanish artist, etc. Though the artworks were retrieved some years later with the interrogative and probing Brazilian authorities and were returned unscathed to the Museum of Art of Sao Paolo.

Forgery at the Caracas Museum of Contemporary Art (MACCSI): Work of Henri Matisse Replicated

‘Odalisque in Red Pants’ (1925) by Henri Matisse Original and Replica

Not only theft or heist, unnerving incidents of art forgeries took place to challenge the sanctity of art gallery space and art preservation like what had happened in the Caracas Museum of Contemporary Art, Venezuela, in between 1999-2000. Renowned painter Henri Matisse’s magnum opus ‘Odalisque in Red Pants’ (1925) was taken from the Museum and a poor quality, fake reproduction was left in its place to bamboozle the authorities. The valuable artwork, almost amounting to $3 million was retrieved after 13-14 years to be returned to its original place by the FBI. Surprisingly enough, no one was explicitly charged for the heist! Again, fingers are raised to the breeding corruption and the negligence of the management. And it was absurd too for the MACCSI to showcase the fake art just to fill up the real Matisse!

Paintings that Still Go Missing: The World Waits with Bated Breath

Art Theft | Missing Paintings on the Wall Waiting for a Comeback

We have already seen fictional art thefts in movies like ‘The Vinci Code’ or ‘The Tourists’ etc. You know, crime fiction has its own way of sensationalizing theft and burglary scenes, raising brows and giving an instant adrenaline boost. Often these heists are featured as a glorified act of visually exciting works of the masterminds, eventually giving way to the gateway scenes. But, how do they work in real life heists? We hope this blog has the answer to this question.

There are more chilling accounts of ‘still missing’ paintings from the world stage depriving the admirers and the millions of viewers of their spectacular gazes. There was the heinous Nazi looting of artworks during World War II, almost inspiring the Russians to loot more than ten thousand of artworks in Kherson Art Museum while they invaded Ukraine in 2022. The world can only cross its fingers in anticipation of a glamorous anti-heist stance (other than beefed up security)!

All art-lovers wait for the perfect homecoming of ‘Le Pigeon Aux Petits Pois’ by Pablo Picasso, ‘Poppy Flowers’ by Vincent van Gogh, ‘The Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence’ by Caravaggio and more of the art treasures to freeze gazes to eternity one more time.

Let’s cross our fingers!