The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-07-23
FAMOUS ARTISTS
GREATEST WORK
HASBEEN STOLEN
Da Vim els "Monns
Lisa !" Disappears
From Louvre.
is PUT
IN ITS PLACE
Original, for Which Million
Pounds Had Been Refused,
Now Believed to Be in
Hands OF New York Mil
lionaire One of the
Worlds Masterpieces.
Special Gable to The Times dispatch. 4

Especial Cable to The Times -Dispatnh.I
Paris, July 22-The cri De Paris
serpece erf snaI Monna hsa ps nd saoien o aro
the Louvre one nigh. about a month
ago. through the completely of high
official of the museum. A copy of the
painting was put in place of the orig
inal. the report states. and the genuine
paper says that a New York rnillion-
aire collector, whose initials are j. Il.
w. W., has the original.
Leonardo Da vincis portrait of
Monna Lisa, also called la Joconda,'.l
or Giaconda, Is one of the worlds most
famous paintings. In European art
circles it is considered to rank second
in value only to the Sistine Madonna,
by Raphael. Both are priceless 1t Is
matter Of gossip. though no official
veritication of the rumor has ever been
given. that the British government Of
fered f1,000,0oo for La Joconda. and
that the offer was refused
Mysterious Smile.
The most striking feature of the
portrait is the mysterious smile that
turks In the eyes and lips of. the sub
jest. 1t took Leonardo five years to
at the end OF that timezhe declared the
| work to be still unfinished.
| The task OF painting LaJoconda was
dimcult and painstaking In the ex-
| treme. Da Ninci found that his model,
a woman, assumed the peculiar eX-
preston which he wanted to depict
only when at ease in a certain posture,
and when listening to certain strai,.
/ of music. AT other times this express
n o. act, :.
thus able ito work only for brief pc
riods and at infrequent intervals, in
order that the effect of the music upon
his model should not wear off In this
way five years We're consumed.
DR.. Arthur Mailer. in his Painting
OF the Louvre calls Monna Lisa "the
most perfect work OF art ever pro-
duced."
The fascination and charm Of tho
portrait still remain" he writes, de
spite the fact that light tints Of tho
skin and the brightness have disap-
peared and the underlying gray coat
ing is visible. Let him. says vasarI.
who wishes to know to what degree
art can initiate nature. contemplate
this picture. 1t is rather divine wor,
than the work of man.
That which strikes us is the mo-
bility in the apparently immobile fig
ure- Monna Lisa is seated in low
chair. on the left arm of which she
leans and lightly rests an arm; her
long, narrow eyes seem on the point
of dangerously closing; the corners
of the mouth are a little raised, and
there is mysterious and indescriba-
BILE smile. The hands are incompara-
bly, nodded, and one may almost feel
their warmth and velvety softness.
Leonardo was the first artist who
was able. in painting, TO render the
texture and suppleness of the skin. y
stone balustrade separates the figure
from the landscape and serves to in
cline it toward the spectator, at the
same time leaving it connected with
the background. Many and deep are
the disturbances which we see In
these blue mountains, and it is a
beyond our reach. for the little bridge
is to indicate distance and seems to
lead to other worlds"
Much has been said and written
concerning the Monna Lisa, but no one
has fathomed all the enigmas OF the
sphinN-like face. Walter Pater. In
THE Renaissance" says OF this mys-
tic creation:
THE presence that thus rose so
strangely beside the waters is ex-
pressive of what In the ways of a
thousand years men have come to de-
sire. Here is the head upon which
all the ends of the world are come
and the eyelids are little weary. IT
IS beauty wrought out from within
the flesh. the deposit little cell by
cell, of strange thoughts and fantas-
tic reveries and exquisite passions.
All the thoughts and experiences of
the world have etched and nodded
there what they have Of power to re-
inc and make expressive the human
FORM She is older than the
rocks among which She sits; like the
vampire, she has been dead many
lines and learned the secrets of the
grave; and has been diver in deep
seas and keeps their fallen day about
ler; and trafhcked for strange webs
With Eastern merchants. Ii would be
Unfair to compare any other work OF
leonardo or of his contemporaries
With this wonderful creation.
None of the important dealers or art
collectors on this side of the water
'ould shed any light upon the possible
IDENTIFY of 81, X. w W." A canvas
II art collectors who might come un-
Ter the category of New York mil
lonaires," failed to reveal one whose
initials even remotely correspond with u
he ones mentioned in the, dispatch
rom Paris.
Kills Wife and Self.
Albany, ~ r.. July 22,-Stephen a