How does a person steal a legendary work of art and end up being hailed as a hero? That’s what happened to Vincenzo Peruggia, whose life story is told in “Mona Lisa Is Missing.”
Peruggia was a former employee at the Louvre in Paris in 1911 when he walked into the museum, took Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” off the wall and out of its frame, wrapped it up in a worker’s smock and took it home. Two years later the painting was found and recovered, and people all over Italy praised Peruggia’s seemingly patriotic attempt to return the painting to Da Vinci’s home country. As a result of this interpretation of his motive, he received a very lenient sentence.
The documentary “Mona Lisa is Missing” will be shown Thursday, Aug. 25, at 1 and 4 p.m. at New Britain Museum of American Art, 56 Lexington St. Admission to the film is free with admission to the museum. nbmaa.org.
