Page 9 - mona lisat

As days turned into months, speculation on the
Mona Lisa’s whereabouts ran rampant.

The New York Times wrote that “a great number of
citizens have turned amateur Sherlock Holmeses,

and continue to advance most extraordinary

theories.” Some argued that American banking
magnate J.P. Morgan had commissioned the heist

to bolster his private art collection; still others

believed the Germans had masterminded it to
disgrace the French.

Alleged sightings filtered in from such far-off

locales as Brazil, Russia and Japan, but more than
two years eventually passed without a break in the

case. Many began to believe that Da Vinci’s 400-

year-old masterpiece was lost for good.