EPISODE 2 in the Sage of Mona Lisa
1913
For 28 months the Mona Lisa returned to her earlier days of existence, stuffed into a closet without the adoration of thousands of people, although this time it was a tiny apartment near the Canal Saint Martin.
For all of 1912 and into 1913, Vincenzo went on with his life although he did not return to his job and stayed quiet and close to home. While the world wondered where the Mona Lisa was. Smart crooks all over the world use the theft for their benefit. Some even employed copyists who thought they could resell copies to rich individuals who could never admit they bought the most wanted woman in the world.
In the winter of 1912, Peruggia left Lisa in his apartment but now in a box that he slid under his stove. A quick trip to London to see art dealer Joseph Duveen who is hailed as the individual to broker more European art to wealthy Americans than anyone else. When the short, 5 foot 3 inch Vincenzo walked in Duveen immediately laughed him out of his gallery. Peruggia returned to Paris and Lisa in her tomb under the stove and waited another year before his final act.
On November 29, 1913, Vincenzo once again appeared. This time in a letter sent to Alfredo Geri, an art dealer in Florence. It stated that the “Stolen work of Leonardo is in my possession. It seems to belong to Italy as the painter was an Italian. My dream is to give back this masterpiece to the land which it came.” Signed Leonard
Geri was skeptical at best but contacted Giovani Poggi curator and Corrado Ricci, director of fine arts of the Uffizi.
Deciding they didn’t have anything to lose they responded and set up a meeting for December 22 in Milan. “Leonard” decided he didn’t want to wait any longer and arrived in Florence on Wednesday, December 10, 1913. Walking into Geri’s shop on the Via Borgo Ognissanti “Leonard Vincenzo” introduced himself and asked the owner if he was interested in seeing the painting.
Two hours later Geri and Poggi were in the Peruggia’s tiny hotel room on the 3rd floor and looking at what was now the most famous painting in the world. The thief brought her back to Italy in a large custom-made crate with a false bottom topped with clothes, tools, and a mandolin The director was shocked to see what was lying on top of her.
Vincenzo said he wanted 500,000 lira for her (today that is worth 2.14 million dollars). The two agreed and let him the thief know they wanted to have it checked at the Uffizi before they paid. As the three men walked out of the Hotel Albergo Tripoli a front desk staff stopped them. The clerk thought they were stealing a painting from the hotel room, much tighter security than at the Louvre. As soon as the painting was verified Geri and Poggi told Peruggia to go back to the hotel and they would bring the money over. Vincenzo must have walked back to the hotel lighter than air thinking all his dreams were about to come true. Instead, the police were called and arrived as Vincenzo laid down to nap and was quickly arrested.
Considering that the Mona Lisa had been stored under a table and a stove, in a closet, and then in a crate for over two years she was in fairly good shape. She had a small mark on her cheek and a scratch just over her left shoulder. In the 15th century when she was still in the hands of Leonardo a crack developed from the top to just past the part of her hair. Years of mishandling didn’t help and two butterfly joints and a small piece of wood were laminated onto the back to repair her. After her voyage away from the Louvre one of the butterfly joints disappeared. Fun fact, when it was replaced the wood had some tiny insects in the new joints and began to infect the painting.
After the news quickly spread that she had finally been recovered the French officials and Louvre director and curator arrived in Florence. As a sign of appreciation, the Mona Lisa continued her short staycation in Italy. First, on display in the Uffizi gallery, she remained for five days and was placed in a gold gilded frame.
During that brief period, the Mona Lisa was set up between Da Vinci’s Annunciation and the Adoration of the Magi both painted twenty years before the famous Lisa. Thousands of people lined up each day to catch a glimpse of her before she left for Rome for a private viewing with King Victor Emmanuel. For five days through Christmas, she resided in the Borghese Gallery then onto Milan and the Brera Museum, her last stop in Italy.
It was rather fitting that she spent a few days at the Brera Museum as its creation was due to Napoleon and his looting of art. The collection was gathered as town officials tried to save things from churches before he arrived. In 1809, Eugéne de Beauharnais, son of Josephine and Viceroy to Italy under his step-dad was asked to create the museum and inaugurated it on the emperor’s birthday, August 15, 1809.
Finally, on December 30 she left Italy to return home. At 3 am on the final day of the year, she crossed the border into France and 11 hours later arrived at the Gare du Lyon. Hundreds of people waited in the station to welcome her home. Her final destination was delayed a bit when she first stopped at the École des Beaux-Arts for a private viewing for art students and officials. For three days, by special invitation only the elite of Paris were the first to see her. Writer Colette was sent to report on the return of what was now the most famous woman in the world. She remarked it was a sea of cameras and the air smelled like a perfume shop. It was THE place to be in Paris the first few days of 1914.
At 10 am on January 4, the doors of the Louvre opened once again, now with the icon that is the Mona Lisa. For hours more than 15,000 people lined up to see her monumental return. Placed once again in her secure frame Peruggia released her but she found her way back to the same spot from which she was stolen. However, she wouldn’t be staying long.
44 years before in 1870 during the Seige of Prussia Louvre officials moved out many of the precious pieces of art. Mona Lisa was quietly moved out of Paris along with 360 other paintings to the Arsenal of Brest. On September 1, 1870 in case number 11 on the 2nd convoy left by train from Montparnasse station. At the time the Mona Lisa wasn’t as famous and didn’t warrant the first convoy although the other Leonardo’s did.
On August 11, 1914, France declared war on Austria and the entry into the Great War began. At the end of August as the Germans entered Paris the clock was ticking and workers quickly removed paintings from their frames and stretchers, the treasures of the Louvre would leave the protection of the Louvre.
Once again Lisa was on the move, this time under tighter security. On September 1, 1914, placed in her very own red satin-lined crate, she was driven out of Paris towards Bordeaux and later Toulouse where she would remain until the end of 1918.
Her biggest adventure was during WWII when she left Paris not once but twice. The first time in September 1938 as Hitler invaded Sudetenland she ventured to Chambord for a few weeks before returning to the Louvre for 11 months.
In the summer of 1939 when it was clear that Hitler intended to capture as much art as he could the Louvre acted quickly and she was once again placed in her satin-lined crate and tied to an ambulance gurney placed inside a special truck that was hermetically sealed. She was one of the first pieces to leave the Louvre on August 29, 1939. When she arrived in Chambord the guard placed inside to protect her was unconscious from the lack of oxygen, but Lisa was safe.
Curator André Chamson and his wife archivist of the Louvre, Lucie Mazauric traveled to Chambord with their 12-year-old daughter Frédérique Hébrand to watch over the famous lady for the duration of the war. Lucie remembers visiting the Mona Lisa in 1914 at 14 years old and had a hard time seeing her over the dense crowd. Now she had a view that any art lover would dream of. The young Frédérique grew to be an actress and writer and was seen on many documentaries telling the story of opening the wood case to pull back the red satin and glimpse the well-known smile of Lisa.
Lisa and the Chamson family moved five times before her return on June 17, 1945, to the Louvre and into the Grand Galerie.