mona lisa

"A narrative nonfiction about how the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre, how the robbery made the portrait the most famous artwork in the world-and how the painting by Leonardo da Vinci should never have existed at all"--Provided by publisher.

"August, 1911: The Mona Lisa is stolen by Vincent Peruggia. Exactly what happens in the two years before its recovery is a mystery. Many replicas of the Mona Lisa exist, and more than one historian has wondered if the painting now in the Louvre is a fake, switched in 1911. Present day: art professor Luke Perrone digs for the truth behind his most famous ancestor: Peruggia. His search attracts an Interpol detective with something to prove and an unfamiliar but curiously helpful woman. Soon, Luke tumbles deep into the world of art and forgery, a land of obsession and danger"--Provided by publisher.

Recounts the mysterious disappearance of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre on August 21, 1911, explaining why the police suspected Pablo Picasso and Guillaume Apollinaire of the crime, how the painting was finally recovered, and why it is still one of the greatest mysteries in modern art history.

Encourages the reader to keep track of the "Mona Lisa" after five thieves steal the famous painting from the Louvre in Paris.

An artist describes a number of art movements, artists, and paintings through an imaginary tour of an art museum.

No face has ever captivated so many for so long. Every year more than nine million visitors trek to her portrait in the Louvre. Yet while everyone recognizes her smile, hardly anyone knows her story. This book rests on the premise that the woman in the Mona Lisa is indeed the person identified in its earliest description: Lisa Gherardini (1479-1542), wife of the Florence merchant Francesco del Giocondo. Descended from ancient nobles, she gave birth to six children and died at age sixty-three. Her life spanned the most tumultuous chapters in the history of Florence, decades of war, rebellion, invasion, siege, and conquest--and of the greatest artistic outpouring the world has ever seen. Her story creates an extraordinary tapestry of Renaissance Florence, inhabited by larger-than-legend figures such as Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Machiavelli.

Presents a fictionalized account of the theft of the famous painting by Leonardo Da Vinci, in simple text with illustrations, describing the events of August 21, 1911, when Vincenzo Perugia stole it from the Louvre.

Pictures and text trace the history of Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa," discussing why the painting has become so popular and what it reveals about da Vinci's life.