There have been attempts to counterfeit works of art at all times. Most often, high-quality copies of paintings or sculptures are being passed off as original for potential buyers. And sometimes deception is not revealed immediately. In the case of Mona Lisa, the scammers did not confine themselves to fakes, but decided to steal the original. True, the idea failed …
"Fake" canvases
In 1911, at least six Americans paid three hundred thousand dollars each to own the Mona Lisa, the great creation of the immortal Leonardo. The deceived connoisseurs of the fine arts knew nothing about each other and firmly believed in the authenticity of their acquisitions. It is not surprising: after all, in the same year "Mona Lisa" was stolen from the Parisian Louvre … And it was the sellers of copies of the world-famous masterpiece that had a hand in this.
This kidnapping crowned the ebullient activity of a whole gang of forgery masters, which was put together at the dawn of the twentieth century by the self-styled "Marquis" Eduardo de Valfierno and his friend Yves Coudreau. Walfierno began his career as a thief with fakes of works by old Dutch and Flemish masters, which he shaved off wealthy Argentine widows, while acting very wisely: he offered the ladies to buy paintings that could later be donated to the church.
Kudro, formerly a restorer, specialized in making copies of paintings by the Spanish painter Bartolomeo Esteban Murillo. Having showered Argentina with fake Murillos, a couple of scammers moved to Mexico City, where Valfierno's skill reached perfection. He inserted a copy of the painting into the original frame from the reverse side, then they brought a potential buyer into the gallery and insistently offered him, secretly, until no one sees, to mark the back surface of the canvas … As a result, the buyer was firmly convinced that he saw in the gallery exactly the picture that subsequently went to him.
Valfierno had a stack of fake newspaper articles about the theft of famous paintings, which he intended to sell to his clients. If he was told that the original was hanging in the gallery and no one had kidnapped him, the swindler swore and swore that there was a copy in the gallery … “The Marquis” apparently had the gift of persuasion and many believed him.
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Forgeries straight from the Louvre
It is not known how long this would have gone on, but in the end the friends had the opportunity to move to Paris. There, using the same "method", Valfierno opened a brisk trade in paintings "stolen" from the Louvre. He supplied his customers with fake documents on museum letterheads stating that the original had been stolen and a copy hung in the Louvre.
Three years later, Valfierno, Kudro and three of their accomplices convinced an American that they could steal the Mona Lisa itself for him, and handed one of Kudro's copies to an art lover. After such an overwhelming success, the gang became so insolent that they decided to sell all the portraits of Mona Lisa that they had and steal the original from the Louvre! Of course, after asking for him a fabulous sum.
Abduction of the century
To successfully carry out the "operation", Valfierno bribed Vincenzo Perugia, an Italian glazier, who made a protective screen for the great canvas of Leonardo and knew perfectly well how the picture was fixed.
On Monday 21 August 1911, the museum was closed to visitors. Perugia and two of his accomplices spent the previous night in the Louvre storehouse, and the next morning, dressed in overalls, went straight to Carré's salon, took a picture that weighed almost ten kilograms, and there they were.
Over the next few months, six wealthy Americans paid three hundred thousand dollars for the famous portrait of La Gioconda, and each of them was firmly convinced that they owned the original …
But the fraudsters never managed to cash in on the original Mona Lisa. After the "robbery of the century", their luck suddenly changed. Perugia banally stole the great creation of Leonardo from his accomplices and in November 1913 offered it to a Florentine art dealer. He instantly suspected something was wrong. As a result, Perugia was caught red-handed and sent to prison, and the masterpiece was returned to the Louvre …
SUPRUNENKO YURI