110 years ago, on December 12, 1913, La Gioconda, the famous panel painting, was found in the Italian city of Florence. Leonardo da Vinci that had been stolen.
The theft occurred two years earlier, in 1911, when the Mona Lisa was on display at the Louvre Museum in Paris. The disappearance, only slowly discovered, made the painting famous and made it a global icon.
The mona LIsa. (The Free Birds/Unsplash)
The theft of the Mona Lisa: 110 years ago they found La Gioconda
The Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre Museum in the French capital on August 21, 1911. However, the fact was discovered a day later when staff discovered the painting was missing.
According to National Geographic, it wasn't surprising that it took them so long to realize it since the works were usually moved to be photographed.
But the next day, news of the theft was on the front page of newspapers around the world.
The investigators of the case had several hypotheses: they assumed that it was blackmail and that a ransom demand would arrive, which could be a wake-up call given the tight security measures, and they even went so far as to interrogate Apollinaire and Picasso. At that time they were young and rebellious avant-garde artists who cried out against artistic institutions.
However, the months continued to pass and there was no information about Leonardo's portrait.
Leonardo da Vinci
During this absence, the museum broke visitor records. Everyone came to see the hole that was in place of the Mona Lisa. However, as time passed, the authorities began to lose hope and by 1913 the Mona Lisa was no longer in the museum's catalog.
More than two years passed before the French authorities managed to obtain information: the call from Alfredo Geri, an Italian art dealer.
110 years after the rescue and return of La Gioconda
Alfredo Geri, then director of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, revealed that a man named Leonardo had tried to sell him the original piece.
With this information, Vincenzo Peruggia, a French worker who had previously been an employee of the Louvre, fell. According to Peruggia, his intention was to return the work to its true home, believing it to be part of the works of art taken by Napoleon at the beginning of the 19th century.
Ultimately, Vincenzo was sentenced to one year and fifteen days in prison, which was later reduced to seven months and nine days.
Meanwhile, La Gioconda was exhibited in Florence, Rome and Milan and finally returned to France on January 4, 1914.
Captivating exhibition of Leonardo Da Vinci Photo Pedro Castillo
More anniversaries
1915 – FRANK SINATRA. American singer and actor Frank Sinatra, considered one of the most important figures of the 20th century and one of the most popular singers of all time, was born in the city of Hoboken (New Jersey, USA).
1980 – ARMAND HAMMER. American oil tycoon Armand Hammer will pay $5.6 million at a London auction to keep Italian artist Leonardo Da Vinci's 72-page handwritten notebook. The factory had been in the hands of the heirs of Thomas Cook, the first Earl of Leicester, for 263 years.
2000 – LAMARQUE FREEDOM. The actress and singer Libertad Lamarque, “the queen of tango,” one of Argentina's greatest international artists, dies in Mexico City at the age of 92. In 1933 he starred alongside Tita Merello in “¡Tango!”, the first Argentine sound film.
2011 – ALBERTO DE MENDOZA. At the age of 88, Argentine actor Alberto de Mendoza (Alberto Manuel Rodríguez Gallego González de Mendoza), who made more than a hundred films, dies in Madrid. He won two Silver Condor Awards, a Konex, an ACE and a Martín Fierro.
Alberto de Mendoza, in “The Bad Truth.”
2015 – PARIS AGREEMENT. In the capital of France, the Paris Agreement with measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is signed as part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
2023 – AGRICULTURAL MACHINES. Agricultural Machinery Day is celebrated in memory of the decree signed in 1951 by President and General Juan Domingo Perón declaring this industry “of national interest”.
Illustrative image.
2023 – NEUTRALITY DAY. It celebrates the International Day of Neutrality, established in 2017 by the United Nations (UN) at the suggestion of Turkmenistan, recognized as a permanently neutral country since 1995.
Illustrative image.
2023 – HEALTH INSURANCE. It celebrates the International Day of Universal Health Coverage, declared by the United Nations in 2012 to call on countries to “accelerate progress towards achieving universal health coverage” so that “all people” have access to high quality and affordable health services have health.
Illustrative image.
2023 – XENEIZE DAY. The Boca Juniors Fan Day was launched on December 12, 2012 as a tribute to “la 12”, as the fans of the “Xeneize” team are called.
Illustrative image.
Other anniversaries
1492.- Christopher Columbus orders the construction of Fort Natividad, where he leaves a garrison with remains of the ship Santa María, lost when it ran aground in Hispaniola (Haiti).
1814.- The Spanish garrison of Bogotá honorably surrenders to Simón Bolívar.
1818.- The Congress of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata recognizes the State of Chile as a free and independent nation.
1901.- Guiglielmo Marconi sends the first message by wireless telegraphy crossing the Atlantic from Great Britain to Newfoundland (Canada).
1911.- George V of England founds the city of New Delhi, where the headquarters of the British colonial government in India is established.
1915.- The first all-metal airplane, invented by the German aviator and industrialist Hugo Junkers, is presented in Berlin.
1924.- The autogyro La Cierva makes its journey from Cuatro Vientos to Getafe in Madrid.
1954.- Launch of the largest ship in the world to date, the aircraft carrier “Forrestal”, in Newport News, Virginia (USA).
1956.- Fidel Castro and some of his opponents of the Fulgencio Batista regime invade the Sierra Maestra after landing in the Oriente Province on the island of Cuba.
1979.- An underwater earthquake in the port of Tumaco (Colombia) with a magnitude of between 7.7 and 8.1 Richter causes almost 500 deaths and the same number of injuries.
1981.- The Peruvian Javier Pérez de Cuellar is elected Secretary General of the United Nations.
1992.- Transfer of the remains of Pablo Neruda and his companion Matilde Urrutia to Isla Negra (Chile).
1993.- The new Russian constitution, which was the first to incorporate the principle of separation of powers, was adopted in a majority referendum.
1994.- South Africa rejoins UNESCO after a 38-year absence.
1996.- The government and guerrillas of Guatemala sign the pact in Madrid to integrate the guerrillas into the country's political life.
1999.- The Maltese oil tanker “Erika” capsizes off the coast of Brittany, spilling more than 10,000 tons of fuel into the sea.
2003.- Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo calls for the resignation of all his ministers following complaints implicating them in several corruption cases.
2004. – Sony launches the PlayStation Portable (PSP) in Japan.
2006. – Former Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam is found guilty of genocide by a court in Addis Ababa.
2010.- Kosovo's first parliamentary elections since its unilateral independence from Serbia in February 2008 are held.
2013: North Korea executes the regime's second man, Jang Song-thaek, the uncle of the North Korean leader who was sentenced to death for corruption.
2016.- The Portuguese Antonio Guterres is sworn in as Secretary General of the United Nations.
.- The EU and Cuba sign their first bilateral agreement on political dialogue and cooperation in almost three decades.
2019.- Former Bolivian President Evo Morales arrives in Argentina and asks to be admitted as a refugee after resigning from office under pressure from the opposition and the army.
2020. – Iranian journalist Ruholá Zam, head of the Amadnews website, is hanged after being sentenced to death in late 2017 for inciting anti-regime protests.
BIRTH
1821.- Gustave Flaubert, French writer.
1863.- Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter.
1934.- Miguel de la Madrid, former President of Mexico.
1946.- Emerson Fittipaldi, Brazilian automobile champion.
1950.- Francisco Montesinos, Spanish couturier and designer.
DEATHS.
1777.- Albert von Haller, Swiss physiologist.
1859.- Robert Stephenson, English engineer.
1985.- Anne Baxter, American film actress.
1989.- Carlos Barral, Spanish poet, editor and politician.
1990.- Concha Piquer, Spanish singer.
1993.- Jozef Antall, historian, Hungarian Prime Minister.
2006.- Peter Boyle, American actor.
2007.- Josep Guinovart, Spanish painter.
.- Ike Turner, American singer.
2008.- Tassos Papadopoulos, former President of Cyprus.
2016.- Javier Echevarría, Prelate of Opus Dei.
2019.- Danny Aiello, American actor.
2020.- John le Carré, British writer.
2021.- Vicente Fernández, Mexican singer.
Source: own and agencies.