More about the Mona Lisa

 This time from History facts online about Pablo and  the Mona.  I have read at least 2 fiction novels about the Mona Lisa and posted reviews here.  Recently Stolen Lady.  

Pablo Picasso Was Accused of Stealing the “Mona Lisa”

Picasso is well known for his surrealist artworks, but the legendary Spanish painter also had a real surreal experience of his own in 1911. That year, on August 21, Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece the “Mona Lisa” vanished from Paris’ Louvre Museum, and Picasso was deemed a suspect. Though there was no direct evidence linking Picasso to the brazen heist, the accusations stemmed from the artist’s relationship with a known art thief named Honore-Joseph Géry Pieret.

Pieret was the former secretary of Picasso’s Paris housemate, Guillaume Apollinaire. In fact, four years before the “Mona Lisa” was stolen, Pieret nabbed two Iberian sculptures from the Louvre and sold them to Picasso; the artist even used one of the statues as the inspiration for a face in his 1907 painting “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.” Upon learning that Pieret was a person of interest in the theft of the “Mona Lisa,” Picasso and Apollinaire planned to throw the stolen art that was in their possession into the river Seine, though ultimately they could not bring themselves to do so. Instead, Picasso was brought before a magistrate and lied, claiming he had never met Apollinaire. In the end, the case was thrown out and Picasso and Apollinaire were cleared two years later, when a handyman named Vincenzo Peruggia was caught attempting to sell the “Mona Lisa” to a Florentine art dealer.

The Last Mona Lisa by Jonathan Santlofer

    Still playing catch up, read this back in June 2022 and my final note was "WOW  x 10 a great read"  Paperback published 2021, 367 pages followed by 12 questions  for a reading group guide, and  Author Interview.  This was the first  book I had read by this author, I am interested in reading more of his books. 

Based on a true story with which I was  unfamiliar, the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa.  According to the author note on two pages, Vincent Peruggia was a Louvre employee who did steal the Mona Lisa.   

The book opens August 21, 1911 in Paris France where "He stares into the gloom, knowing he will spend the rest of his days in the darkness.    We lose the things we do not cherish enough, his one thought, his only thought as he slips into his workman's' tunic, buttons it over his street clothes and opens the closet door."  

By page 151, he realizes he's in deep.  "He rubbed his spidery fingers together and talked of his plan.  Chaudron would make copies.  He would sell them.  It was that simple.  The paintings would fetch a fortune.  And each one w3ould be sold as the original.  He said we would all become rich.    But all I wanted was enough money to get my son back. .....I had no choice but to go along.  I had made a pact with the devil.  And for that I would pay the devil's price."    

The writing draws the reader along.  I could hardly put this book aside,  thoroughly captive to what would happen next.  Yet there is also a philosophical tone to some of the pages.  Like page 255,  "But you know taking this crazy risk, it's almost like I've started over, like I'm somebody again.   I got that.  What Peruggia had wanted too, to be somebody.  What we all want, dreamed of as kids, before the world got too real and dreams got crushed."  . 

Page 313, "We were not always right, but that never stopped us.  Funny how far I thought I'd come.  But did we ever really leave our former selves behind?"  

The two page Author's Note at the conclusion of the book are here.  Blogger is not allowing me to get them set up side by side  so frustrating when things just do not work on this blog.  

But this is definitely a 5 ***** book, my highest rating.  I  will be reading more by this author, for sure.  .