As dawn broke over Paris on August 21, 1911, Vincenzo Perugia hoisted a painting from the wall and slipped down the back steps of the Louvre.
He was close to freedom, the exit right in front of him when he was faced with a two-pronged problem: the door was closed and the footsteps were approaching.
Under Perugia's arm was Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa." It is the most famous painting in the world today. But how did it get its status?
Leonardo is believed to have commissioned the portrait in 1503 at the request of a Florentine merchant who wanted a portrait of his wife Lisa Girardini. Leonardo continued to work on the painting for over 10 years, but it was unfinished until his death.
During his lifetime
Leonardo conducted groundbreaking studies on human optics, which led him to advance some artistic techniques. Some can be seen in the "Mona Lisa".
Using "ambient perspective", he created images at greater distances, creating the illusion of greater depth. And with "sfumato," he created subtle gradations between colors that softened the edges of the forms he depicted.
All of this is surprising
but is it enough to make the "Mona Lisa" the most famous painting in the world? Many scholars consider it a masterpiece of the Renaissance portrait—but one of quite a few. And history is full of great paintings.
Indeed, the "Mona Lisa's" rise to world fame depended largely on factors beyond the canvas. King Francois of France bought the painting and exhibited it after Leonardo's death.
Then, in 1550, Italian scholar Giorgio Vasari published a famous biography of Italian Renaissance artists, including Leonardo. The book was translated and widely distributed, and contained a striking description of the "Mona Lisa" as a hypnotic simulation of life.
Over the years, the "Mona Lisa"
became one of the most enviable pieces in the French Royal Collection. It hung in Napoleon's bedroom and eventually went on public display at the Louvre Museum.
There, pilgrims flocked to view the once-private treasures of the deposed aristocracy. During the 1800s, a series of European scholars expanded on the "Mona Lisa", significantly refining the allure of the subject. In 1854, Alfred Domnell said that Mona Lisa's smile produced a "treacherous charm".
A year later, Théophile Gautier wrote of her "funny lips" and "gaze promising unknown pleasures". And in 1869, Walter Peter described the Mona Lisa as the epitome of timeless feminine beauty. By the 20th century, the portrait was an iconic piece in one of the world's most famous museums.
But "Mona Lisa" wasn't yet a household name
It was the 1911 robbery of Perugia that helped catapult him to unprecedented fame. Having contracted to make protective cases for the Louvre, it was not entirely inconceivable for Perugia to be locked inside the museum.
And, luckily for him, when a workman encountered him in the stairwell, he readily helped Peruggia open the door and let him out until morning. The theft made international headlines. People flock to see the empty space where the "Mona Lisa" once hung.
Police interviewed Peruggia because he worked at the Louvre, but they never considered him a suspect. Meanwhile, they question the Louvre's previous theft because of its connection to Pablo Picasso, but eventually let him go.
For two years, Perugia kept the painting in a suitcase with a false bottom, then smuggled the "Mona Lisa" to Italy and arranged to sell it to a Florentine art dealer. Perugia saw himself as an Italian patriot returning the work of an old master.
But instead of celebrating like this
he was immediately arrested. After the mystery was solved, the "Mona Lisa" went back in front of large crowds, and newspapers took the story on a victory lap.
In the following decades, conceptual artist Marcel Duchamp made fun of it. He was pursued by Nazi art thieves. Nat King Cole sang about it. And museum-goers attacked stones, paint, acid and teacups.
More than 500 years after its creation — after the eyebrows and eyelids have faded — the "Mona Lisa" is protected by a bulletproof, earthquake-proof case.
Now, it's perhaps less of an idealized Renaissance portrait and more of a testament to how we create and sustain celebrity.
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