History Daily: The Mona Lisa is Stolen
American History Tellers
Wondery
4.7 • 18.3K Ratings
🗓️ 21 August 2023
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
August 21, 1911. An Italian handyman steals Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa from the Louvre, turning what was once a little-known painting into one of the most famous artworks in the world.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to American History Tellers, a podcast I host to bring you some of the most |
| 0:04.6 | fascinating, engrossing, and important stories from American history. But of course, important |
| 0:09.9 | events happen all over the world, and history is made every day. So I'm pleased to tell you that |
| 0:15.1 | I have another podcast, History Daily, where every weekday I take you back in time to explore |
| 0:20.5 | a momentous event that happened on this day in history, all in 20 minutes or less. You're about |
| 0:25.8 | to hear today's episode of History Daily. And moving forward, we're going to give you another |
| 0:30.2 | episode of History Daily here on American History Tellers every other Monday. So if you're stuck |
| 0:34.8 | in traffic, bored at work, or wherever you are, History Daily will remind you that something incredible |
| 0:40.2 | happened to make this day historic. And to get more daily history, follow History Daily on Amazon |
| 0:46.4 | Music or wherever you get your podcasts. It's September 1911 in Paris, France. The famous |
| 1:02.9 | modernist artist Pablo Picasso walks handcuffed into court here to answer for a recent art theft. |
| 1:10.1 | As he approaches the questioning box, he looks over to see Guillaume Apollinaire, a playwright, |
| 1:15.6 | poet, and member of Pablo's Parisian entourage. Whisper's ripple through the gallery, |
| 1:20.7 | and quickly Pablo averts his eyes from Guillaume. Any sign that he recognizes his friend could |
| 1:26.4 | spell trouble for Pablo. In recent weeks, the city has been rocked by scandal. Leonardo Da Vinci's |
| 1:33.1 | famous Mona Lisa has been stolen from the Louvre Museum, and Guillaume and Pablo have been accused |
| 1:39.3 | of being connected to the theft. The pair have been outed as suspects by Guillaume's former secretary, |
| 1:45.0 | who claims to have stolen artifacts from the Louvre and sold them to Guillaume and Pablo in |
| 1:49.3 | the past. The press has since reported the three of them as the prime suspects in the theft of the |
| 1:54.5 | Mona Lisa. Though the artists are actually innocent, Pablo and Guillaume both face the prospect of |
| 2:00.7 | potential deportation away from their beloved adopted homes in Paris. As the judge calls for order, |
| 2:07.7 | Pablo's questioning begins. It's not long before the pressure gets to the artist. |
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