Mona Lisa to the Nazis: Robbed often, why latest Louvre theft is different

The set of robbers who broke into the Louvre Museum successful Paris connected Sunday greeting and stole eight Napoleonic pieces of priceless jewellery successful a four-minute heist were conscionable the latest successful a agelong enactment of daring thieves who person targeted the iconic museum.

The robbers utilized a truck-mounted ladder to scope the gilded Galerie d’Apollon (Apollo’s Gallery) connected the 2nd level earlier taking an space grinder to a model to entree the French crown jewels. The heist took spot astatine 9:30am (07:30 GMT), fractional an hr aft the depository opened to visitors for the day. The robbers are inactive astatine ample and the Louvre is presently closed.

A ninth point they stole – the crown belonging to Empress Eugenie, Napoleon III’s woman – was recovered adjacent aft it was dropped by the group, the French Ministry of the Interior said.

The Louvre was a royal palace for much than 2 centuries. It opened arsenic a nationalist depository successful 1793 during the French Revolution. The gyration had made totems of monarchical past particularly susceptible to looters, and the Louvre, too giving mundane French radical a glimpse of these precious items, sought to support the bequest they represented, for aboriginal generations.

That did not wholly halt thieves, however. Over time, determination person been respective attempts to bargain invaluable items from the Louvre – often successful.

1911: The Mona Lisa is stolen

On August 21, 1911, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa was stolen successful what was deemed the “heist of the century”.

At the time, the Mona Lisa was 1 of Italian creator da Vinci’s lesser-known works and had been connected show since 1797. Many present accidental it was the theft itself that propelled the coating to its modern fame. At the time, the coating was hanging connected a partition successful a country called the “Salon Carre”.

The heist was carried retired by Vincenzo Peruggia, a 29-year-old Italian migrant who had concisely worked astatine the Louvre. He entered the depository wholly unchallenged connected the evening of August 20, clad successful his aged depository uniform.

Peruggia hid successful a retention closet overnight and, successful the morning, erstwhile the depository was closed and astir empty, emerged from the closet. He simply removed the coating from the partition and wrapped it successful a achromatic sheet. As helium made to permission the museum, helium recovered the stairwell doorway to the courtyard locked. But alternatively of being suspicious, a Louvre plumber helped Peruggia to unlock the door, mistaking him for a colleague.

This illlustrated reconstruction from 1911 shows however Vincenzo Peruggia stole the Mona Lisa [Roger-Viollet/Getty Images]

Museum information was alternatively little robust backmost then, and paintings would often beryllium removed for attraction oregon to beryllium photographed. Hence, nary 1 batted an oculus astatine the lack of the da Vinci coating for much than a day.

Concern implicit its lack was yet raised by a visiting artist, who came to the Salon Carre to paint. When the Louvre guards could not find the painting, constabulary were alerted. What followed was an extended manhunt and media frenzy.

The constabulary did not initially find galore leads. Avant garde writer Guillaume Apollinaire was arrested and questioned owed to his links to earlier thefts from the Louvre. Apollinaire, who was cleared of suspicion, pointed to his friend, a young Pablo Picasso, who was besides questioned by the police.

Picasso was cleared of suspicion successful the theft of the Mona Lisa, but successful a expansive twist, it was revealed helium had antecedently acquired Iberian statue heads which had been stolen from the Louvre. He returned these to the Louvre to debar immoderate further trouble.

Rumours and speculation mounted astir the painting’s imaginable whereabouts, with galore believing it was smuggled abroad. But, the full time, the Mona Lisa was really successful Peruggia’s one-bedroom flat successful Paris.

It was yet recovered successful 1913 erstwhile Peruggia attempted to merchantability it to a assemblage successful Italy. He believed the merchantability had been palmy erstwhile an creation trader helium was successful interaction with invited him to Italy for a imaginable merchantability to a gallery, and helium took the coating with him. Instead of buying the painting, however, the assemblage turned Peruggia in. He was arrested successful his edifice country successful Florence.

The Mona Lisa was returned to the Louvre successful 1914, and Peruggia was charged with the theft. He said helium had been motivated by nationalist pridefulness to bargain the painting, claiming the coating had been looted from Italy. The coating was really completed successful France by Da Vinci and sold to the French royal family.

People stitchery astir the Mona Lisa coating connected January 4, 1914, successful Paris, France [Roger-Viollet/Getty Images]

1940s: The Nazis effort to loot the Louvre

In 1940, the Nazis invaded France amid World War II and appeared poised to loot a conception of the Louvre.

However, arsenic a preemptive move, Jacques Jaujard, the manager of France’s nationalist museums, ordered much than 1,800 cases containing Louvre masterpieces, including the Mona Lisa, to beryllium moved to the French countryside.

This prevented a large-scale taste nonaccomplishment erstwhile the Nazis marched into a mostly bare museum.

However, the Nazis did bargain galore pieces of Jewish artwork portion occupying France. Many of these person been returned to France, and the Louvre began displaying them successful 2018 successful an effort to reunite the stolen pieces with their archetypal owners.

1960s to 1990s: More robberies

In 1966, 5 pieces of antique, handmade jewellery were stolen from John F Kennedy International Airport successful New York. The jewellery was en way backmost to Paris from the United States, having been loaned by the Louvre for a depository show successful Richmond, Virginia. Detectives aboriginal recovered the jewellery successful a market bag, and 3 men were arrested for receiving stolen property.

In 1990, Pierre Auguste Renoir’s Portrait of a Seated Woman was chopped from its framework and stolen from the 3rd level of the Louvre. At the aforesaid time, the depository discovered that immoderate tiny jewellery items were besides missing – and whitethorn person been for immoderate time. “The disappearance of these objects, which are not of large worth and are often seen connected the market, is surely rather old,” the then-director of museums successful France said, according to The New York Times. It is unclear whether these items were ever recovered.

What’s antithetic this time?

This week’s jewellery heist is distinctive due to the fact that erstwhile high-profile robberies successful the Louvre person mostly been of paintings.

“A jewellery theft is simply a precise antithetic happening to see due to the fact that of the precocious intrinsic worth of the entity stolen,” American creation historiographer Noah Charney told Al Jazeera. Paintings person a non-intrinsic value, which is worth assigned to them owed to their taste significance, helium explained.

“A coating doesn’t person a precocious intrinsic worth due to the fact that it’s usually made of sheet and pigment, and canvas and thing more. Whereas jewellery has a precocious intrinsic worth due to the fact that if you interruption down what was stolen and merchantability the components, the worth is inactive significant.

“With jewels, the taste practice value, which provides the bulk of its value, is not thing that the thieves are apt to instrumentality into consideration,” Charney added.

Does this marque stolen jewels harder to trace?

Yes. Collections of jewels tin beryllium breached down, recut and sold successful a mode that does not nexus them to the intact stolen items, making them astir intolerable to hint — yet precise valuable.

They bash not adjacent request to beryllium connected the achromatic marketplace if the jewels are recut importantly capable that they are not identifiable.

“The lone anticipation that constabulary have, and we recognize this from however past cases person played out, is if they connection a reward for the betterment of each the jewels intact that is higher than the worth of the constituent parts of the jewellery,” Charney said.

Such a determination mightiness bargain the constabulary a spot much clip to way down the items and drawback those liable arsenic the thieves ponder their adjacent move.

“Otherwise, I’m acrophobic there’s not overmuch anticipation that these volition beryllium recovered and they would apt person been chopped down wrong hours of the theft,” helium said.