IN THE CLOSET

Vincenzo Peruggia said that he hid the Mona Lisa in his closet. It was even there when the police came to question him. Check out this video from my film of why the police might not have noticed it.

LOOKING AT NOTHING BUT NOTHING

On October 28, 1911, this item was published in the San Antonio Express...

"There is no surprise to us in the report from Paris that more people gather to stare at the vacant space on the wall of the Louvre, where Da Vinci's stolen portrait, Mona Lisa hung, than ever before had gathered there to see the picture."

The theft actually brought thousands of looky-loos into the Louvre just for that reason.  So attendance was up. And it was months before the Louvre filled the spot the Mona Lisa had with this guy --

Raphael's Baldassare Castiglione, painted in 1514-1515.  It was said Raphael modeled the pose after the Mona Lisa.

PERUGGIA'S STREET THEN AND NOW

Vincenzo Peruggia kept the Mona Lisa in his room at 5 Rue de l'Hopital Saint Louis in the 10th Arrondissement in Paris. The Petit Parisien described his street as " A long row of buildings black, poor and ugly." Today it's an up and coming Paris neighborhood. Check out the video to see the street back then and today.

DID THE MONA LISA IN ITS FRAME WEIGH 200 POUNDS?

I know it's not polite to talk about a lady's weight, but some sources say that Mona Lisa was Mona Lotsa.

New York Times writer Walter Littlefield said in a 1913 article that she weighed 212 pounds with the frame.

In a 1932 article in the Saturday Evening Post, journalist Karl Decker shaved a few pounds off that number but was still in the same heavyweight category -- making the painting too heavy for a small man like Peruggia to carry.  That's why some people thought he had help.

The clip above is my attempt to show how Decker broke down the 200 pounds.

WHAT DID PEOPLE LOOK LIKE WHEN PERUGGIA WAS ALIVE?

In 1978, I bought a house in Glenside, PA. It had been built in 1908, the same time period that Peruggia was working and living in Paris.  In the basement of this house I found a box of glass negatives by an unknown photographer taken from 1904-1910.

For someone who loves photography, this was a treasure trove. I'm going to post a few of my favorites  simply because the images are amazing. The clothes they wore, the expressions on their faces -- it's hard to believe that they lived 100 years ago. They look so alive.

Some of the negative envelopes were marked with names or titles.

This is Meta McDemond and her son Norman. And in the background is the house I bought in 1978. Mrs. McDermond was the owner. She was 95 when she sold the house to me and it broke her heart. We took wonderful care of the home and lived there until 1992 when we moved to LA. Leaving that home broke my heart.

This young woman is named Flora Blair. I wonder if it's some sort of a graduation picture because that could be a diploma in her hand.

This woman is Mrs. Richardson. What a winning smile.

This is Meta's older son Grant in a very big coat. Would any of our kids stand to be dressed like this today?

I love this guy.  He's called "Billikins"

This was also taken at the house I bought.  These people are the Grommicks. I don't think I've ever sat crossed legged on that porch in a suit.

ODE TO MISSING MONA

The Mona Lisa inspired many a would-be Bard to wax poetic.  Here some writer used the theft to moralize on flattery. 

Since Mona Went Away

List to the moan from fair Paree;

Lost is the dame so good to see;

Mona Lisa, ah, where Is she?

Gone!

There she hung on the honored wall;

Now she has passed beyond recall;

Vanished with strangers—big or small?

Skipped!

Men who flatter may prove untrue;

Trust not strangers who come to woo;

Carry this moral home with you;

It’s good. 

—Cleveland Plain Dealer

THE MISSING PIECE GETS A GRANT

We're thrilled to say that our film The Missing Piece has been the recipient of a $26,000 grant from the Daniel B. and Florence E. Green Family Foundation. These funds are greatly appreciated and will go toward securing licensing rights for the archival photos and video we're using and to aid in the finishing costs of the film. 


We thank the Greens for this generous contribution.  


We continue to look for corporate sponsors and individual donors in any amount. Become part of this amazing project and get a credit in the film by making a donation. Contributions are made through the Greater Philadelphia Film Office and are tax deductible.

CONSPIRACY THEORIES IN 1911?

The theft of the Mona Lisa was so beyond belief that many Parisians thought that there had to be another explanation. So this story started to make the rounds -  the Mona Lisa had not been stolen.  It had been damaged.

According to the rumor, the Louvre representative getting the painting for the photographer damaged it while removing it from the frame.  The theft was concocted to give the restorer time to repair the picture. 

The Louvre photographer

Two years later, the story was still going strong. In July 1913, Walter Littlefield of the New York Times published a full-page article that said the painting was destroyed by restorers working on the painting and that the story of the theft was just a cover-up. 

 

WOULD THIS HAVE HELPED THE MONA LISA?

No, it's not Joan from "Mad Men." It's an ad in the  back of a 1913 Italian journal - "Corriere della Sera."

I've had to buy a number of newspapers from the period of the theft 1911-1913.  They aren't as advertising-laden as our papers are today but the ads are typically charming, sometimes puzzling,  and like this one, often hysterically funny.

It has the headline "IL SENO," which means "the breast."  And it's an ad for Crema Americana - a breast enlargement cream. So even back in 1913, Americans were in the forefront of breast enlargement technology. And the Italians couldn't help but be interested.
 
If any of my friends reading this who know Italian would care to translate....

CELESTINA NEVER KNEW HER FATHER HAD STOLEN THE MONA LISA

Celestina Peruggia grew up never knowing that her father was the man who stole the Mona Lisa.  See her talk about it in a short clip from the film.