Ships of Theseus

The Mona Lisa has been on some adventures over the years.

Found in Leonardo da Vinci's workshop upon his death, Leonardo seems to have worked on the painting off and on for the last 15 years of his life. From there, it ended up with one of Leonardo’s benefactors, King Francis I of France. For two centuries, the famous work hung in obscurity in French palaces.

The French Revolution eventually led the Mona Lisa to Napoleon, where it hung from the Emperor’s bedroom for a few years, before finding its forever home in the Louvre.

Even then, the painting’s adventures were just getting started: in 1911, someone stole it, and it stayed missing for two years. Pablo Picasso was arrested as a suspect! Two years later, the painting was discovered in the possession of Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian immigrant and former Louvre worker, who was subsequently arrested and imprisoned. It seems that Peruggia tried to sell the painting to Uffizi Gallery in Florence, where I had the opportunity to visit in 2…