Posts
Leonardo Da Vinci painted the
Mona Lisa in the early 1500’s. It soon
was acquired by the King of France and after hanging in various royal
apartments went on permanent display at the Louvre in Paris in 1797 and is now,
at $870 million, one of the world’s most valuable paintings.
The painting was not always so popular, and owes its
worldwide recognition to an art theft in 1911.
The theft was carried out my one Vincenzo Peruggia, a museum employee
and Italian nationalist, who thought this Italian masterpiece had no business
in France. Peruggia tried to sell the
painting to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy but ended up in jail. The Mona Lisa returned to France after a
three year odyssey. Peruggia may have
had accomplices who planned to sell forgeries of the Mona Lisa in America to
unscrupulous collectors. Their story did
not come to light until 1932.
During World War II, a phony Mona Lisa was allowed to
fall into the hands of the Nazis, while the original painting was moved from
secret hiding place to secret hiding place throughout the war. The real Mona Lisa resurfaced in Paris on
June 16, 1945.
In the early 1950s, a man claiming to be in love with the painting tried to cut
it out of its frame. A glass covering
was placed over the painting to prevent future attempts, but to no avail. On December 30, 1956 a Bolivian man threw a rock at the Mona Lisa while it was on
display at the Louvre. The rock shattered the glass case and dislodged a speck
of pigment near the left elbow.
Since then, bullet
proof glass has been used to shield the painting, which is just as well, since
the assaults have continued. In 1974,
while the painting was on loan to the Tokyo National Museum, a woman sprayed it
with red paint in a protest to further rights for the disabled. In 2009, a Russian woman threw a ceramic
teacup purchased at the Louvre’s gift shop at the painting. She had personal grievances against the
French government. In 2022, an environmental activist tried to smash the glass
protecting the world’s most famous painting before smearing cake across its
surface.
Mona
Lisa, she’s faced the wild storm waves of ages, and bravely she faces them
still. And always with a smile.
No comments:
Post a Comment