Theft of the Mona Lisa

Background

On Monday 21 August 1911, the museum's weekly closing day, the Italian glazier Vincenzo Peruggia, who had previously worked at the Louvre, stole Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. The theft was only discovered the next day. The painting remained missing for more than two years, until Peruggia tried to sell it to an art dealer in Florence in December 1913 and was arrested. He claimed to have acted out of patriotism and received a light sentence. The theft and the worldwide press coverage made the Mona Lisa the most famous painting in the world.

Sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica: Mona Lisa · Wikipedia: Vincenzo Peruggia