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Stolen – But Why?
In 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre by Italian employee Vincenzo Perugia. The official reason given by Perugia was that he believed the painting belonged in Italy which is where Da Vinci was from. Perugia thought that Napoleon Bonaparte had stolen it when rampaging through Italy and that it should be back home instead. Many think that this is not the true reason though! Some suggest that the Louvre itself may have paid Perugia to carry out the theft to gain more publicity for the painting. Others think that it was stolen to make copies of and then sell to greedy private art lovers.
