Italy has launched a campaign to convince the Louvre Museum in Paris to lend the Mona Lisa painting to Florence’s Uffizi Gallery in 2013 to mark the 100th anniversary of its recovery following one of history’s most famous art thefts.
The Italian culture ministry and the Province of Florence have jointly launched an appeal to the French to lend them what may be the world’s most famous masterpieces, but the prestigious French museum said the painting is not in the condition to withstand the trip south.
Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa was briefly displayed in the Uffizi in 1913 after being recovered in a Florence hotel two years after its theft from the Louvre.
That was the last time it appeared in Italy and only one of three times the work was displayed outside of the Louvre, according to a statement posted on Thursday on the Province of Florence website. Starting with Italian politicians, the initiative aims to collect at least 100,000 signatures to be sent to France in around six months, the statement said.
“This is not a declaration of war against France. It’s an appeal aimed at collaboration,” said Silvano Vinceti, the head of an Italian culture ministry historical society jointly organising the petition along with Florence.
“The Gioconda has left the Louvre museum three times. It can do so again,” he said, referring to the Italian name for the Mona Lisa.
On the morning of 21 August, 1911, the 16th century portrait of Lisa Gherardini — the wife of wealthy silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo, was stolen from the Louvre by Vincenzo Perugia, an Italian museum employee who hated the French and believed that the work should be returned to Italy.
By arrangement with AKI