Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of Mona Lisa
by R.A. Scotti
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Book Summary Information
Author: R.A. ScottiEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Format: Deckle Edge
Published: 2009-04-07
ISBN: 0307265803
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Knopf
Book Reviews of Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of Mona Lisa
Book Review: Who Stole The Mona Lisa From the Louvre?
Summary: 5 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
This reader/reviewer did not even know that in 1911 the Mona Lisa (La Joconde) had been stolen from the Louvre, a world-famous museum named for the Caves of the Wolves below the 49-acre structure with a centuries old history. Since I've enjoyed studying the most famous smile in the world on several occasions in the last 30 years, obviously the most famous painting in history was found--in 1914 to be exact. This is a page-turner of a true mystery. It's almost unbelievable that thieves could take the painting, which is painted on hard wood, not canvas that could be rolled up and easily hidden, out of the museum in broad daylight without anyone seeing anything. But at that period in history, the Louvre Museum didn't even know the whereabouts of 800 master keys. None of the art works were securely fastened to the wall. A contract photographer could simply walk-up to a masterpiece, gently take it off the wall and remove it to be photographed. The photographers didn't have to have special permission or even tell anybody where they were going, what they were doing or how long the artwork would be absent. There was no system for checking out the various art works. Security was lax to say the least.
The theft of Leonardo Da Vinci's masterpiece turned the smiling portrait into the most famous painting in the world. It introduced the Mona Lisa to the general public who had never heard of, much less seen the mysterious woman with the haunting smile. The public openly grieved for the loss of their smiling Lisa.
Among the chief suspects of the robbery were Pablo Picasso and his friend poet/art critic (he coined the word "surrealism") Guillaume Apollinaire who were suspected because of their publicly stated dislike of art museums. The spotlight was focused on them when they decided against dumping some stolen statues from the Louvre they had in their possession into the river and instead turned them into one of the Paris newspapers. If they'd carried out their plan of drowning the primitive statues, they would not have been arrested. There is surprising material about Picasso contained in the book I've never read anywhere else.
This tome is filled with fascinating trivia such as the fact the Mona Lisa hung in Napoleon's Bed Chamber until he was exiled to Elba. There is a wonderful portrait of the Paris "Camelot of Art" that so colored the early part of the 20th Century including lots of insights into the characters who became the surrealist knights and court figures of that Montepassé and Montmartre Round Table. The development of the newspaper is another interesting facet of Paris at the time of this crime.
As a reviewer I don't want to give away the heart of this excellent non-fiction book, but a reader doesn't have to be an art historian to be captivated by this mystery. This is a very enlightening and enjoyable read and it will be difficult to put down before all 213 pages of story have been finished. The whole affair is so, so surreal, but amazingly, it really did happen. Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction!
Summary of Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of Mona Lisa
On August 21, 1911, Leonardo da Vinci?s most celebrated painting vanished from the Louvre. The prime suspects were as shocking as the crime: Pablo Picasso and Guillaume Apollinaire, young provocateurs of a new art.The sensational disappearing act captured the world?s imagination. Crowds stood in line to view the empty space on the museum wall. Thousands more waited, as concerned as if Mona Lisa were a missing person, for news of the lost painting. Almost a century later, questions still linger: Who really pinched Mona Lisa, and why? Part love story, part mystery, Vanished Smile reopens the puzzling case that transformed a Renaissance portrait into the most enduring icon of all time.
Amazon Best of the Month, April 2009: In 1911, Leonardo's da Vinci's Mona Lisa was stolen off its hooks from the Louvre, remaining missing for over two years. Who took the most famous painting in the world? Was it Pablo Picasso, the upstart Spaniard--and modern counterpoint to the Italian master--in a fit of nationalistic pride, or the avant-garde poet Guillaume Apollinaire as an act of artistic revolution? R.A. Scotti's Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of Mona Lisa investigates this largely forgotten caper, and along the way we're treated to a tour of turn-of-the-century Paris, the birth of modern forensics, and a biography of the enigmatic painting itself. To this day the mysterious theft of the painting the French call La Joconde remains unsolved--only Mona Lisa knows, and she's not talking. --Jon Foro
R.A. Scotti on Vanished Smile
Mona Lisa is the most famous face in the world, yet few among the thousands who flock to the Louvre to see her every day know that she was ever stolen. Who pinched Mona Lisa--and why?The most surprising facts in the case:
1. 98 years ago, Mona Lisa vanished from the wall of the Louvre Museum.
2. No one noticed for more that 24 hours.
3. Pablo Picasso was a prime suspect in the theft.
4. Her mysterious disappearance made Mona Lisa the most famous wanted woman in the world.
4. Mona Lisa remained missing for more than 2 years and was presumed lost forever.
5. A letter signed ?Leonardo? led police to the lost painting.
6. Almost 100 years later, the brazen crime remains unsolved. --R.A. Scotti
(Photo © Doug Steel)
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