Was the Mona Lisa Stolen a Year Before She Was Stolen?

1910 Headlines claim the painting in the Louvre was an imitation

On Saturday, July 23, 1910, the front page of The Washington Post carried stories both important and mundane, like the former prime minister of Spain being shot in an assassination attempt and how a New York banker’s rafting party down the Yukon River turned back because of mosquitos.

But in the 6th column, right under the Post’s masthead was the headline of a story that was, if not prophetic, certainly a far-fetched whopper of a tale. It read:

‘MONA LISA’ STOLEN

Priceless Painting Gone From

The Louvre, in Paris

HIGH OFFICIAL IS INVOLVED

New York Millionaire Said to Have

Da Vinci’s Masterpiece

Designated as a “Special Cable to The Washington Post" with a dateline of Paris, July 22, the story was quickly picked up by local dailies across the US, such as the Waterloo Evening Courier in Waterloo, Iowa, which ran this front-page headline:

FINEST PORTRAIT IN WORLD STOLEN

“MONNA LISA” REPLACED BY

IMITATION AT LOUVRE

Report Says That “J.K.K.W” of

New York Is the Thief

The Mona Lisa stolen? Replaced with a copy? The real painting in the vault of a mysterious New York millionaire? According to The Washington Post, the New York art scene was hardly surprised.

“The consensus of opinion was, in view of similar thefts that have been committed at the Louvre and considering the value and charm of Da Vinci's great painting, its acquisition sooner or later by a collector of unlimited means was not at all improbable.”

None of the New York art dealers and collectors could shed a light on the identity of this J.K.K.W and no one’s initials remotely corresponded to it.

The story was a complete and utter hoax, or what we could call today bona fide fake news. The source of the story was a somewhat controversial Paris weekly called Le Cri de Paris.

At the time the story broke, major masterpieces in the Louvre, including the Mona Lisa, were being covered with glass to prevent vandalism. A number of paintings including Poussin’s The Deluge and Ingres Sistine Chapel” had been slashed by deranged individuals who were looking for attention or as an act of protest.

Le Cri de Paris, like many Parisians, was against the glass installation. They said that the thickness of the glass, the reflections and distortions it causes would make even the most skillful expert unable to detect a forgery. They demanded “the appointment of a committee of famous artists to examine the picture.” No such committee was formed and no one took the theft story seriously.

The Fine Arts Journal in August, 1910 said that the story “emanates from a single Paris newspaper… and that Paris journalism is not over-scrupulous in finding means to titillate the jaded palate of the French public.”

Sensationalism or not, the story in Le Cri de Paris contained three of the avenues most traveled in Mona Lisa conspiracies:

The Mona Lisa hanging in the Louvre is a fake

An American millionaire is behind the theft

A high-ranking Louvre employee is complicit

The fact that the story pre-dated the actual theft is probably one of the reasons that when the real Mona Lisa disappeared 13-months later, the news was initially met with skepticism. The boy crying “wolf” again.

Ironically, it was a huge task of covering 1,600 masterpieces with glass that led to its theft. But let’s table that thought for now.

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