MONA LISA RETURNS TO PARIS

After the Mona Lisa was recovered in Florence, she traveled to Rome where she was officially handed over to the French ambassador.

Courtesy of L'Illustration

After being exhibited for several days in Rome, she traveled to Milan for a one-day showing.

Courtesy of Eileen White

On the afternoon of Tuesday, December 30, 1913, the famous painting left Milan for Paris with the director and curator of the Louvre  and several Italian officials aboard the train keeping guard. 

On WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1913  at 3 am, the telegram below was sent to the Undersecretary of Fine Arts in Paris that the Mona Lisa was at the French-Italian border. Italian customs allowed the painting to pass the border duty free.

Courtesy of Archives Nationales, Paris

  

At 3 am,  the Prefecture of Police in Paris received the message below: the Mona Lisa was to arrive at the Gare de Lyon at 2:40 pm.

 Courtesy of Archives of the Prefecture of Police museum

That afternoon, fifty police detectives and a score of silk-hatted government officials met the special train bearing Leonardo's great painting from Italy.

Courtesy of Eileen White

The New York Times reported that when the train drew into the station, Eugene Pujalet, Director of National Museums, took the box and carried it to a waiting automobile amid the flash of photographers.

Courtesy of  Eileen White

 Courtesy of L'Illustration

The Mona Lisa was taken to the National School of Fine Arts to the office of the director where it was authenticated. All but the officials were barred and with great ceremony the Italian government's seals were removed and Mona Lisa was restored to the old frame from which Vincenzo Peruggia had removed the painting when he stole it in 1911.

Mona Lisa was afterward carried to the hall of honor in the school. There was a private showing of the picture to newspaper men and high officials. The picture was placed on exhibition and an admission fee charged and the money obtained to be distributed among the Italian poor in Paris in “recognition of Italy’s part in the recovery of the masterpiece.”

Courtesy of Excelsior

The same postcard as above -- with the subtle addition of the Eiffel Tower and banners in French.

THE MISSING PIECE TO GET SPECIAL AWARD AT SAN JOAQUIN FILM FEST

This was just announced on the website for the San Joaquin International Film Festival.

http://www.sjiff.com/

We're thrilled and excited to be given an award for our work.  Thanks SJIFF.  We look forward to the presentation and screening on January 5, 2013.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM THE MISSING PIECE

Original postcard from the Mona Lisa's return to the Louvre in January 1914

PERUGGIA'S CHRISTMAS GREETINGS TO HIS FATHER

From 1909 to 1912, Vincenzo Peruggia who was working in Paris sent Christmas greetings back to his family in Dumenza, Italy.  

On Tuesday, December 21, 1909, he wrote this postcard to his father Giacomo:

Translation by Marco Ferretti

Beloved Father

Paris, December 21st '09

I am sending you this card to wish you all Merry Christmas, good end and a better start ["buona fine e miglior principio" means happy new year, but the literal translation gives a better feeling of what it is traditional to wish in here]; for sure the new year will give you some relief and some consolation . 

I cannot tell you exactly when I will be able to come back down in the village to experience the joy of hugging you all, but I will surely take advantage of the first time my manager [padrone : is the guy who is employing him ... a very leftist way of identifying your manager that is still widely used in italy]  thinks there will be some lows. I am in perfect health and I wish it is the same for you all; soon you will receive a letter from me and a money transfer.

I am sending you all a kiss

your son Vincenzo

A year later, Wednesday, December 21, 1910, he wrote this letter to his father.  Peruggia was working at the Louvre at the time.

Translation by Marco Ferretti:

Paris Dec. 21st, 1910

Beloved Father,

I am writing these few lines to send you some news about me . I am fine and hope you and all the members of our family are fine too. It is about Christmas ( and New Year's eve too ! ) : I am sending you my best wishes, may you all be well and healthy ; I am far away from there, but am with you with all my heart . It is necessary for me and for us all : I have a good job, not too tiring and healthy; I will be working as hard as I can so that I can send you some money through the all winter . As I understand you have no job there : I will make some more sacrifices so that, I hope, next spring I will be able to to pay the rest of the debt that you have left; then, when we will finally have no more debts, everything will be better and that little that we have will be ours : at that point I will start thinking about fixing my life.

Together with this letter I am sending you 50 liras so that you can go through the holidays .

I am not adding anything else, apart from saluting you, mom, sister & brothers, that shall be home for Christmas, and all our relatives with all my heart. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year; I will try to spend the holidays with Rossi Carlo; we'll be staying home and cooking  : it's a lot more comfortable than an "osteria. Hope to hear from you soon.

your faithful son

Vincenzo Peruggia

It's interesting to note how Peruggia, the eldest son, was so duty-bound to help his family and to erase the debt they had.  In this letter, he says that his job is "healthy."  He was working at the Louvre helping to put the masterpieces behind glass for protection.  He had previously worked as a decorative housepainter, a job which had given him lead poisoning. 

Was the debt part of the reason Peruggia stole the Mona Lisa?  Was it what would help him "fix his life?" 

99 YEARS AGO - MONA LISA DISPLAYED IN FLORENCE - An Eyewitness Account

On December 14, 1913, as Vincenzo Peruggia sat in jail for stealing the Mona Lisa, the masterpiece was put on public exhibition at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. It was the first time in 400 years that she'd been back to her "home town."

The tower of the Palazzo Vecchio rises over the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.

The painting was photographed in a room between the Annunciation and the Adoration of the Magi, both by Leonardo da Vinci.

Mona Lisa was placed behind barricades and put on an easel that was draped with the cloth that Peruggia had used to cover her.

An American woman named Carolyn Apperson Leech wrote and published a small book about her experience seeing the Mona Lisa that day.

Carolyn Apperson Leech

Below is a clip from THE MISSING PIECE including a deleted scene featuring a section from Carolyn Apperson Leach's book.

99 YEARS AGO -- THE PRESS & POLICE BESEIGE PERUGGIA'S ROOM IN PARIS

At one o'clock in the morning, photographers and reporters arrived outside an apartment building at 5 rue de l' Hopital Saint Louis in the 10th Arrondissement of Paris to wait for agents of the Sûreté.  They wanted information about Vincenzo Peruggia, the man arrested in Florence Italy the day before who was accused of stealing the Mona Lisa.

Peruggia's apartment building today.

Filming "The Missing Piece" in 2008

The reporters besiege the lodging of the concierge Mme. Duc who rejects all propositions for photographs of Perugia or to climb the stairs to his room.

The concierege Mme. Duc said: “Two Italian journalists woke me up at one o’clock in the morning. They stated to me that they needed an interesting document that could be found in his (Peruggia's)  room. Not knowing about the arrest of my lodger I believed that I was confronted by two bandits who had just completed a big job and needed a place to hide.  I closed the door in their faces."

About Peruggia, she said: "I never quite believed he could have stolen the painting from the Louvre, at least that he conceived the project and executed it on his own.  They say he did the job for someone else, that would not surprise me at  all."

The police arrive and under Inspector Niclausse, they searched his room.

A comparison between Vincenzo Peruggia's room in 1913 and today.

Silvio Peruggia in his grandfather's room during the filming of "The Missing Piece."

99 YEARS AGO -- THE MONA LISA RETURNS TO ITALY

On December 9, 1913, Vincenzo Peruggia crossed the Italian border on a train from Paris and arrived in Milan, Italy with the Mona Lisa safely hidden in his double-bottomed trunk.  It was the first time in 400 years that she was back in her native country.

Peruggia had originally arranged to meet Italian art dealer Alfredo Geri in that city.  His plan was to hand the painting over to Geri who was to act as a middleman to help Peruggia return the Mona Lisa to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence where Peruggia believed it belonged.

But for some reason, Peruggia changed his mind about meeting Geri in Milan and decided to bring the painting directly to Florence.  From the Milan central station, he sent this telegram.

It reads "Arrivo domani Firenze."

"I arrive tomorrow Florence." Peruggia signs the letter "Leonard" which was the name he was using to correspond with Geri.  It is French for "Leonardo" as in da Vinci.

You can see Peruggia's signature on the telegram, dated December 15, 1913.  It was from after his arrest where he was shown the evidence against him and signed it to indicate that.

Click below for a clip from our film, The Missing Piece that deals with the events of December 8-9, 1913 when Vincenzo Peruggia made his move to take the Mona Lisa home.

LIVING MONA LISA FOUND! (100 years ago)

I came across this article in the December 4, 1912 edition of the New Castle News published in New Castle, Pennsylvania.  It says that a Chicago artist named Gordon Stevenson was sailing from Antwerp on the ocean liner Manitou and was struck by a 17-year-old girl's resemblance to the Mona Lisa.  Her name was Mathie Kurpinowitz and she was from Minsk, Russia and heading to Boston.

He said he made several sketches of her and planned to paint "The Modern Mona Lisa."  I couldn't find the painting or the sketches  but here's what the newspapers said.

Of course, resembling the Mona Lisa isn't always a blessing as stated in this item from the January 30, 1913 edition of the Oxford Mirror, Oxford Junction, Iowa.

MONA LISA DESTROYED! (A 1912 theory)

All throughout 1912, there were rumors that the Mona Lisa, which disappeared on August 21, 1911, was not stolen at all -- but willfully destroyed by a Louvre employee.  Louvre officials then concocted  the theft to cover up the irreparable act of vandalism.

This rumor was believed by some and even taken philosophically by others.

THE MISSING PIECE: AN OFFICIAL SELECTION OF THE 2013 SAN JOAQUIN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

We're pleased to announce that we've been selected for our 4th film festival: The 2013 San Joaquin International Film Festival and will be screening there on Saturday, January 5 at  5:30 pm.  This will be our 4th festival after October's Mill Valley, Austin and Philadelphia festivals

For more information, click here http://www.sjiff.org/sjiff2013/monalisa.html

THE LATEST 1911 FAD: POSING LIKE THE MONA LISA

On December 5, 1911, the Wisconsin State Journal published this little news feature.

In the Louvre archives, we found a number of photos of famous (at the time) French actresses and performers who did just that.  Their photos were compiled in the December 15, 1911 issue of the magazine below.

Magazine courtesy of Eileen White

 Who is the best and worst?

And we even found one man who got into the act.