Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-10-11
BY X. S. FENDRiCK.

PARIS
uAS the enigmatic Mona Lisa lost her
smile?
To put it bluntly is Leonardo da
Vinci's immortal masterpiece, the
jewel Of the Louvre collection, really
authentic there some myste-
trious manipulation between the time it was
stolen in 1911 and its recovery in Italy in 1913?
Did some replace the real Mona Lisa with
o clever copy during this exciting escapade?
was the painting badly damaged and then re-
touched by q heavy hand? Or did the thief,
painter himself, try to improve on Da Vtnci's
work?
"A remark Of Forain. the great French artist
and cartoopist who died q few weeks ago, has
revived this terrible doubt that caused 50 much
heart burning in France for many years.
The smile Of La Joconde no longer exists"
Forain said, using her French title. IF you
don't believe it, compare photo graphs taken at
different epochS" This sensational opinion is
quoted by Leandre Vaiat close friend OF the
noted painter-cartoonist, in a book CT reminis-
cenceS called I'm Listening TO Forain," to be
published soon. And that is about all he said,
but Forain was such a superb craftsman. mas
ter with such vast knowledge of art and a
man who weighed his judgments carefully
that he could not have caused more emotion if
he had come out with broadside. Like many
other artists, he apparently held the private
conviction that there someth hing queer about
the picture that returned to the Louvre in
1918.
this day that the lady has never looked the
since her adventure. though they don't
know exactly what happened to her
A POOR Italian tramp artist. Vincenzo
Perugia, caused all this mystifcation by
strolling out of the Louvre hot, drowsy
afternoon 20 years ago-it was Monday, August
81, 19ll-With the priceless Mona Lisa tucked
into his ragged umbrella. Although the museum
Is closed to visitors NJ rdays, he had strsg-
gled in with some artists who were copyirg the
works there for practice.
All the guards, Xcept one at the main en-
trance, who happened to be named PerSonne,
were off duty. Perugia calmly lifted the heavy
frame from the wall, carried it into little pri-
vate stairway nearby pried OPP n the boards
and took out the masterpiece without having to
cut it in any way. Being painted on canvas, he
managed to roll it inside the old umbrella and
then sauntered out about l O'Clock without any
one paying any attention. Perugia rambled
about the Paris streets for several hours with
Frances greatest artistic treasure under his
arm, too penniless even to celebrate with bot
tie of red ink" He hid it in his room in a
miserable lodging house that night and few
months later wandered into Italy with it.
What hue and cry the next morning when
the empty frame was found in the staircase!
The museum authorities dazed The po-
lice announced that they would not make any
formal charge for "a hours, thereby to give the
practical joker an opportunity to realize his
mistake and bring the painting back. All the
artists present that day vainly given the
third degree, but naturally there was no one
named Peruga on the list. Finally the police
realized that it was not a joke. The finest
sleuths Of the department put on the trail.
In every corner of France tramps and other
suspects were stripped and searched. The from
tiers were sealed. Any carrying package
had to open it.
The police of all the neighboring countries
took similar measures, but weeks and months
passed without the finest detective force in the
world discovering the least indication of the
identity of the thief or how he had got the
masterpiece out Of the Louvre. 1t was assumed
that he had climbed out of window, per-
haps even flown away. The whole universe was
on the alert. Meanwhile, the poor Bohemian
painter wandered about France and Italy with
his treasure worth millions but with which he
could not even buy bread. He slipped through
the police net like sand through their fingers.
The motive for the theft was also Incompetent
sible, for no one could sell it.