Vincenzo Peruggia
Convicted thief
Italian-born former Louvre glazier and handyman. He took the panel in August 1911, kept it, and was arrested in Florence in December 1913. A court convicted him on a short sentence. He is the who of the file.
Darker cells mean a higher score for this topic on that metric.
Notoriety92
Mystery15
Scale50
Evidence80
Legal impact40
Culture90
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Quick answers
When was the Mona Lisa stolen?
On 21 August 1911, from the Salon Carré of the Louvre in Paris. The empty wall was noticed on 22 August. The painting was missing for twenty-eight months.
Who took it?
Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian-born former Louvre glazier and handyman. He was arrested in Florence in December 1913 after offering the panel through dealer Alfredo Geri. A Florence court convicted him.
When did the painting return?
It was authenticated in Florence in December 1913, shown briefly in Italy and returned to the Louvre in January 1914. It has remained in the French national collection since, now in the Salle des États.
Were Picasso and Apollinaire involved?
No. Apollinaire was arrested because of an earlier, separate Louvre theft of small Iberian sculptures by an acquaintance. Picasso was questioned. Both were cleared of the Mona Lisa. The episode is a documented false lead.
Why did Peruggia say he took it?
He offered a patriotic story: that the work belonged in Italy. Leonardo had brought the portrait to France himself, and it had long been in the French royal collection. The court treated a motive speech as a motive speech, not as title to the panel.
Did the theft make the Mona Lisa famous?
It made the face universally famous. Specialists already ranked the portrait high. Two years of newspaper reproductions and a triumphant 1914 return created the modern pilgrimage picture.
The convicted name is one former museum worker. The recovery names are a dealer and an Uffizi director.
The famous names who were questioned and cleared still occupy more English anecdotes than they deserve.
People
Alfredo Geri
Florentine dealer
Received the offer of the painting and contacted the Uffizi. His caution is the reason the recovery is a documented hand-over, not a rumour.
Giovanni Poggi
Director, Uffizi
Examined the panel and helped authenticate it as the Louvre's Leonardo. His professional act closed the object half of the case.
Guillaume Apollinaire
Poet, false lead
Arrested in September 1911 because of a separate Louvre sculpture theft by Géry Pieret. Cleared of the Mona Lisa. A lesson in how a famous gap attracts famous suspects.
Pablo Picasso
Painter, questioned and cleared
Brought in during the same 1911 panic. Not charged with taking the portrait. English retellings still drag him in as colour.
Louvre and Préfecture officials
Victim museum and Paris police
The empty-wall discovery, the two-year search and the 1914 homecoming are their file. Staffing embarrassment, not a new French art-crime code, is the institutional aftertaste.
Name Peruggia, Geri and Poggi first. The modernist cameos were cleared.
Public-record encyclopedia. Not legal advice. Not a how-to. Graphic detail is withheld. Wars belong in a separate atlas.