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FREE Admission | Dr. Noah Charney, Guest Lecturer

Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait, the Mona Lisa, is without doubt the world’s most famous painting. It achieved its fame not only because it is a remarkable example of Renaissance portraiture, created by an acclaimed artistic and scientific genius, but because of its criminal history. The Mona Lisa was stolen in 1911 by an Italian man that was under the mistaken belief that the Mona Lisa had been stolen during the Napoleonic era, and he wished to take back for Italy one of his country’s greatest treasures. His successful theft of the painting from the Louvre, the farcical manhunt that followed, and the subsequent trial in Florence were highly publicized, sparking international media attention, and catapulting an already admired painting into stratospheric heights of fame. Charney’s lecture reveals the art and criminal history of the Mona Lisa.