Page 10 - mona lisat

Unbeknownst to police, however, the Mona Lisa was

still in France. In fact, from the very day that it was

stolen, it had languished in a one-room apartment

on the outskirts of Paris.

Its thief was Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian

immigrant who had once worked at the Louvre as a
handyman. He had even helped construct the Mona

Lisa’s protective frame.

After making off with the painting in August 1911,

the 29-year-old had stashed it in his home in a wood

trunk with a false bottom.

As a former Louvre employee, he was questioned

about the theft on two separate occasions, but

police never considered him a serious suspect

Peruggia kept the Mona Lisa hidden for two years

while he waited for the heat to die down. “I fell a
victim to her smile and feasted my eyes on my

treasure every evening,” he later said. “I fell in love

with her.”