Paul Murray's weblog, with news you may have missed and my $0.02 worth on a number of topics.

"You can't make up anything anymore. The world itself is a satire. All you're doing is recording it."
- Art Buchwald

I bet you don't have a friend who's an acupuncturist

E-mail me: pmurray63 [at] hotmail.com (Be patient, I don't check it often.)

The perfect crime? In August 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre. It was recovered in December 1913 when Vincenzo Perugia tried to sell it in Italy. At his trial in June 1914, Perugia claimed that, acting alone, he stole the painting to return it to Italy (although he had admitted trying to sell it to someone in London). He was convicted and was imprisoned for seven months. Case closed.

Or not.

Mind-boggling as it is that someone could simply hide in the museum overnight, then walk out the next morning with one of the world's most famous paintings, there may be more to the story, as you can read in this book excerpt in Vanity Fair.

Apparently it's not a new story, but I'd never heard it before.

(via kottke)

Labels: crime, history, Mona Lisa

posted by Paul Murray at 11:42 PM | permanent link |