How Did the Mona Lisa Become the Most Famous Painting of All?

Solving a mystery

Photo by The Free Birds on Unsplash

It’s August 1911, Paris. Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian nationalist and former employee of the famous Louvre museum of Paris, has just sneaked out of the museum taking with him the Mona Lisa, the masterpiece of the great Leonardo.

Had the theft occurred in 2011, no doubt the news would have traveled from Paris to…