by R. A. Scotti
129 FINANCIAL RECORDS SUGGEST: Charles Nicholl, Leonardo da Vinci: Flights of the Mind.
131 IN HIS NOTES ON PAINTING: Leonardo on Painting.
132 BY PURE COINCIDENCE: A Frenchman, probably the historian Jules Michelet, was the first to suggest the love affair. Michelet wrote that Mona Lisa was so seductive, even Leonardo—“the complete man, balanced, all-powerful in all things, who summarized all the past, anticipated the future … was taken in by the snare. …” Jules Verne, as a young man and something of a na'if, composed a play about the illusory romance, and the Italian Romantic poet Enrico Panzacchi celebrated it in verse. He imagined Lisa's husband refusing to accept the portrait when he saw the smile on his wife's lips. Suspecting the worst, he returned the painting to the artist. We don't know what he did with his wife.
Messer Francesco suo sposo e signore
Tomato vide Vopra e il mutamento
Fece col capo un segno di scontento
E il ritatto rimase as suo pittore.
Signore Francesco her husband and lord
Came back to view the work and seeing the change in his wife
Shook his head in disgust
And returned the painting to the painter.
132 TODAY WE KNOW: Mohen et al., Mona Lisa: Inside the Painting.
135 ACCORDING TO CELLINI: Benvenuto Cellini's autobiography.
139 IN A VALIANT EFFORT AT RECONCILIATION: Nicholl, Leonardo da Vinci.
139 LISA DEL GIOCONDO: Giuseppe Pallanti, Mona Lisa Revealed: The True Identity of Leonardo's Model.
140 IN LEONARDO'S LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT: Janice Shell and Grazioso Sironi, “Salai and Leonardo's Legacy,” The Burlington Magazine 133, no. 1055 (February 1991).
145 IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: André Felibien, Entretiens sur les vies et sur les ouvrages des plus excellents peintres anciens et modemes. Paris: Societe d'edition “Les Belles Lettres,” 1987.
146 TO FLAUNT THE SUPERIORITY: The structural condition of the Louvre was so bad that it closed again in 1796. It reopened fully on July 14, 1801.
151 A BRITISH GALAHAD: Walter Pater, Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry.
153 INVESTIGATORS HAD CHASED TIPS: Rene Casselari, Dramas of
French Crime.
A LETTER FROM LEONARDO
166 ALPHONSE BERTILLON WAS DYING: When he died, Bertillon was working on a plan to make future art fraud impossible. A few days before his death, he said: “Every artist will, in the future, place his thumb or any finger he may desire on the moist pigment together with his signature. He will make a duplicate of the impression on the usually prepared paper, which will be deposited with the École des Beaux-Arts. This paper will be photographed and the copies made kept on hand for distribution among collectors and dealers as the occasion may demand.” Quoted in The New York Times, Feb. 13, 1914.
183 HENRY DUVEEN HAD TOLD A VERY DIFFERENT STORY: Duveen, Art Treasures and Intrigue.
THE STING
191 NEW YEAR'S 1914: Karl Decker, “How and Why the Mona Lisa Was Stolen,” Saturday Evening Post, June 25, 1932.
199 FORGING IS ITSELF A FINE ART: Frank Arnau, The Art of the Faker.
A PERFECT STORY
217 THE NOVELIST JAMES M. CAIN: The papers of James M. Cain are in the Library of Congress.
THE PRISONER
221 SINCE THEN MANY ARTISTS: Roy McMullen, Mona Lisa: Picture and Myth; see also the Web site, www.monalisamania.com.
225 SHE HAS MOVED FROM HER OLD SPOT: McMullen, Mona Lisa.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
PERIODICALS
Architectural Review, May 1910
Art Bulletin, September 1941, December 1977, June 1985
Art News, September 1991
Atlantic Monthly, March 1929
Art and Antiques, January 1987 digital self-portrait
Art News, 1907-1912, 1991, 1992
Bookman, November 1911
Burlington Magazine, September 1947, March 1973
Gazette des Beaux Arts, November 1989, March 1993
Journal of Forensic Sciences, November 1992
Journal of the History of Ideas, April 1940, April 1956
Modern Language Review V, 74, 1979
Saturday Evening Post, June 1932
Smithsonian, May 1999
Urban History, August 2006
NEWSPAPERS
Chicago Tribune
Le Figaro
Le Matin
L'lllustration
London Times
Paris-Journal
Le Temps
Los Angeles Times
New York Journal
Paris Herald
The New York Times
The Washington Post
BOOKS
Alexander, Edward P. Museums in Motion. Nashville: American Association for State and Local History, 1979.
Allen, Frederick Lewis. The Great Pierpont Morgan. New York: Harper, 1949.
Andersen, Wayne. Picasso's Brothel. New York: Other Press, 2004.
Apollinaire, Guillaume. The Poet Assassinated and Other Stories, trans. Ron Padgett. San Francisco: North Point Press, 1984.
——. Selected Poems, trans. Oliver Bernard. Anvil Press Poetry, 2003.
Arnau, Frank. The Art of the Faker: 3,000 Years of Deception, trans. Maxwell Brownjohn. Boston: Little, Brown, 1961.
Baedeker, Karl. Paris and Its Environs igio. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1910.
Berger, Robert. Public Access to Art in Paris. University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999.
Belting Hans. Invisible Masterpiece, trans. Helen Atkins. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.
Bertillon, Alphonse. Alphonse Bertillon's Instructions, trans. Gallus Muller. New York: AMS Press, 1975.
Billy, André. Avec Apollinaire, Souvenirs Inédits. Paris: La Palatine, 1966.
Bramly, Serge. Mona Lisa, trans. Alexandra Campbell. London: Thames and Hudson, 1996.
Cabanne, Pierre. Picasso: Life and Time, trans. Harold J. Salemson. New York: Morrow, 1977.
Cahanne, Pierre. The Great Collectors. New York: Farrar, Straus, 1963.
Campbell, Gordon. Renaissance Art and Architecture. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Casselari, Rene. Dramas of French Crime. London: Hutchinson & Co., 1920.
Clark, Kenneth. Leonardo da Vinci. London: Viking, 1988.
Cocteau, Jean. Souvenir Portraits, trans. Jesse Browner. New York: Paragon House, 1990.
Coignard, Jerome. On a Volé La Joconde. Paris: A. Biro, 1990.
De Beatis, Antonio. Travel Journal of Antonio de Beatis, trans. R. Hale and J.M.A. Lindon. London: Hakluyt Society, 1979.
Decker, Karl. The Story of Evangelina Cisneros. New York: Continental Publishing Co., 1898.
Desmond, Robert. The Information Process. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1977.
——. Windows on the World. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1980.
Duveen, James H. Art Treasures and Intrigue. Garden City, N.Y.: Double-day, Doran & Company, 1935.
Elderfield, John. Picasso's Brothel. New York: Other Press, 2002.
Esterow, Milton. The Art Stealers. New York: Macmillan, 1973.
Franck, Dan. Bohemians: The Birth of Modern Art, Paris 1900-1930. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2001.
Freud, Sigmund. Leonardo da Vinci: A Study in Psychosexuality, trans. A. A. Brill. New York: Random House, 1947.
Gayford, Martin, and Karen Wright, eds. The Grove Book of Art Writing. New York: Grove Press, 2000.
Gombrich, Ernst Hans. Art and Illusion. New York: Pantheon Books, 1961.
Green, Christopher, ed. Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Heywood, Ian. Faking It. Brighton, England: Harvester Press, 1987.
Hibbert, Christopher. The Grand Tour. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1969.
Hudsen, Kenneth. A Social History of Museums. Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Humanities Press, 1975.
Jacobs, Fredrika. Living Image in Renai
ssance Art. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Janouch, Gustav. Conversations with Kafka, trans. Goronwy Rees. London: Derek Verschoyle, 1953.
Jones, Mark, ed. Fake?: The Art of Deception. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990.
Kafka, Franz. Diaries 1910-1923, ed. Max Brod. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1988.
Kemp, Martin. Leonardo da Vinci. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
Leader, Darian. Stealing the MonaLisa. New York: Counterpoint, 2002.
Lebovics, Herbert. Mona Lisa's Escort: André Malraux and the Reinvention of French Culture. Ithaca, N.Y: Cornell University Press, 1999.
Leech, Carolyn Apperson. When Mona Lisa Came Home, Florence, December 1913. Chicago: Alderbrink Press, 1914.
Leitch, David. Discriminating Thief. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1969.
Leonardo da Vinci. The Complete Works. Cincinnati, Ohio: David & Charles, 2006.
Leonardo da Vinci. Notebooks, trans. Edward McCurdy. New York: Empire State Book Company, 1923.
Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo on Painting, ed. Martin Kemp. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989.
Livingston, Margaret. Vision and Art. New York: Harry N. Abrams,2002.
Lucas, E. V. A Wanderer in Paris. New York: Macmillan, 1913.
Mailer, Norman. Portrait of Picasso as a Young Man. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1995.
MacGregor-Hastie, Roy. Picasso's Women. London: Oberon, 1999.
Malraux, André. Picasso's Mask. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1976.
McClellan, Andréw. Inventing the Louvre. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
McLean, Hugh. Rogues in the Gallery. Boston: David R. Godine, 1981.
McMullen, Roy. Mona Lisa: Picture and Myth. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1975.
Mellow, James R. Charmed Circle: Gertrude Stein & Company. New York: Praeger, 1974.
Meyer, Karl Ernst. The Plundered Past. New York: Atheneum, 1973.
Mohen, Jean-Pierre, Menu, Michel, and Mottin, Bruno. Mona Lisa: Inside the Painting. New York: Abrams, 2006.
Nicholl, Charles. Leonardo da Vinci: Flights of the Mind. New York: Penguin, 2005.
O'Connor, Harvey. Mellon's Millions. New York: John Day Company, 1933.
Olivier, Fernande. Loving Picasso, trans. Christine Baker. New York: Abrams, 2001.
——. Picasso and His Friends, trans. Jane Miller. London: Heinemann, 1964.
——. Souvenirs Intimes. Paris: Calmann-Levy, 1988.
Paglia, Camille. Sexual Personae. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990.
Pallanti, Giuseppe. Mona Lisa Revealed: The True Identity of Leonardo's Model, trans. Timothy Stroud. Milan: SKIRA, 2006.
Pater, Walter. Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry. New York: Dover Publications, 2005.
Peck, Henry T. The New Baedeker 1856-1914, Being Casual Notes of an Irresponsible Traveler. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1910.
Pia, Pascal. Apollinaire par Lui-Même. Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1954.
Picasso, Pablo. Picasso on Art, comp. Dore Ashton. New York: Viking Press, 1972.
Pulitzer, Henry. Where Is the Mona Lisa? London: Pulitzer Press, 1967.
Reit, Seymour V. The Day They Stole the Mona Lisa. New York: Summit Books, 1981.
Richardson, John. A Life of Picasso: The Prodigy, 1881-1906. Vol. 1. New York: Random House, 1991.
——. A Life of Picasso: The Cubist Rebel, 1907-1916. Vol. 2. New York:
Alfred A. Knopf, 1996.
——. A Life of Picasso: The Triumphant Years, 1916-1932. Vol. 3. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008.
Rhodes, Henry. Alphonse Bertillon. London: Harrap, 1956.
Robertson, Charles. International Herald Tribune. New York: Columbia University Press, 1987.
Rubin, William, Seckel, Helene, Cousins, Judith. Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. New York: Museum of Modern Art, distributed by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1994.
Saarinen, Aline B. The Proud Possessors. New York: Random House, 1958.
Sassoon, Donald. Leonardo and the Mona Lisa Story: The History of a Painting Told in Pictures. New York: Overlook Press, 2006.
——. Becoming Mona Lisa: The Making of a Global Icon. New York: Harcourt, 2001.
Schwartz, Lillian F. The Computer Artist's Handbook. New York: Norton, 1992.
Shattuck, Roger. The Banquet Years. New York: Anchor Books, 1958.
Simpson, Colin. Artful Partners. London: Bodley Head, 1987.
Spiel, Robert E. Art Theft and forgery Investigation. Springfield, 111.: Charles C. Thomas, 2000.
Steegmuller, Francis. Guillaume Apollinaire, Poet Among the Painters. New York: Farrar, Straus, 1963.
Stein, Gertrude. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. New York: Knopf, 1990.
Stone, Melville E. News-gathering. New York: s.n., 1918.
Temperini, Renaud. Leonardo da Vinci at the Louvre. Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 2003.
Tomkins, Calvin. Merchants and Masterpieces. New York: Henry Holt, 1989.
Trumble, Angus. Brief History of the Smile. New York: Basic Books, 2003.
Turner, Richard. Inventing Leonardo. New York: Knopf, 1993.
Vasari, Giorgio. The Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects, trans. Gaston du C. de Vere. London: Everyman Library, 1927.
Walker, John. Self-Portrait with Donors. Boston: Little, Brown, 1974.
Wright, Christopher. The Art of the Forger. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1985.
A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR
R. A. Scotti is the author of four novels and three works of non-fiction: Basilica: The Splendor and the Scandal—Building St. Peter's; Sudden Sea: The Great Hurricane of 1938; and Cradle Song. She lives in New York City.
THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK
PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF
Copyright © 2009 by R. A. Scotti
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf,
a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by
Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
www.aaknopf.com
Grateful acknowledgment is made to Anvil Press Poetry for permission
to reprint an excerpt from “The Little Car” from Guillaume
Apollinaire: Selected Poems, translated by Oliver Bernard
(London: Anvil Press Poetry, 2004). Reprinted by
permission of Anvil Press Poetry.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to Milton Esterow for permission
to use translations of French newspapers from his book,
The Art Stealers.
Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks
of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Scotti, R. A.
Vanished smile: the mysterious theft of Mona Lisa /
RA. Scotti—1st ed.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-307-27154-9
i. Leonardo, da Vinci, 1452-1519. Mona Lisa.
2. Art thefts—France—Paris. I. Title.
ND623 L5A7 2009 759.5—dc22 2OO8047851
v3.0