On Tuesday August 11th, 1911, a young artist, Louis Beraud, arrived at the Louvre（卢浮宫） in Paris to complete a painting of the Salon Carre（卡雷沙龙，卢浮宫的画廊名）. This was the room where the world 's most famous painting, the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci（列奥那多·达·芬奇）, was on display. To his surprise there was an empty space where the painting should have been. At 11 o'clock the museum authorities realized that the painting had been stolen. The next day headlines all over the world announced the theft.

这一天是1911年8月11日，星期二，一位年轻的艺术家路易斯·贝劳德来到了巴黎卢浮宫的卡雷沙龙画廊完成一幅油画，在这条画廊里陈列着世界上最著名的油画——列奥纳多·达·芬奇创作的《蒙娜丽莎》。令路易斯感到吃惊的是，本该挂着油画的地方却是空空荡荡的。中午11时博物馆馆方意识到这幅名画已经被盗了。第二天全球各大报刊的头条新闻都报道了《蒙娜丽莎》被盗的消息。

Actually the Leonardo had been gone for more than twenty-four hours before anyone noticed it was missing. The museum was always closed on Mondays for maintenance（维修）. Just before closing time on Sunday three men had entered the museum, where they had hidden themselves in a storeroom. The actual theft was quick and simple. Early the next morning Perrugia removed the painting from the wall while the others kept watch. Then they went out a back exit.

实际上，直到达·芬奇的这幅画被盗24小时后才有人发现此事。每逢星期一卢浮宫都要闭馆例行保养文物。就在星期天，有三个人进入了博物馆并藏在贮藏室里。他们的盗窃行动迅速而简单，第二天一大早，三个盗贼之一佩鲁吉亚从墙上取下《蒙娜丽莎》，其余两个为他望风，然后他们从后门溜走逃得无影无踪了。

Nothing was seen or heard of the painting for two years when Perrugia tried to sell it to a dealer for half a million lire（里拉）. Perrugia was arrested on December 13th. Perrugia claimed he had stolen it as an act of patriotism（爱国主义）, because, he said, the painting had been looted from the Italian nation by Napoleon（拿破仑）. Perrugia was imprisoned for seven months. It seemed that the crime of the century had been solved.

《蒙娜丽莎》在被盗后的两年间一直杳无音迅，直到有一天佩鲁吉亚想以50万里拉卖给一个文物贩子时，人们才重新见到它。佩鲁吉亚于1913年12月13日被捕，他宣称偷《蒙娜丽莎》之举完全是出于爱国心。他说，卢浮宫的这幅画是被拿破仑从意大利抢劫来的。佩鲁吉亚为此被判了7个月的监禁，看来这个世纪奇案好像是解决了。

But had it? Perrugia was keen to claim all responsibility for the theft, and it was twenty years before the whole story came out. In fact Perrugia had been working for two master criminals, Valfierno and Chaudron, who went unpunished for their crime. They would offer to steal a famous painting from a gallery for a crooked（不诚实的） dealer or an unscrupulous（肆无忌惮的） private collector. They would then make a copy of the picture and, with the help of bribed gallery attendants（服务员）, would then tape the copy to the back of the original（原始的） painting. The dealer would then be taken to the gallery and would be invited to make a secret mark on the back of the painting. Of course the dealer would actually be marking the copy. Valfierno would later produce forged（伪造） newspaper cuttings announcing the theft of the original, and then produce the copy, complete with secret marking. If the dealer were to see the painting still in the gallery, he would be persuaded that it was a copy, and that he possessed the genuine（真正的） one.

果真如此吗?佩鲁吉亚试图把这次盗窃案的全部责任都揽到自己身上。直到二十年后，整个事件的真相才大白于天下。事实上，佩鲁吉亚一直在为两个犯罪头目瓦尔菲尔诺和肖德龙工作。在这个案件中，另两个家伙一直逍遥法外。瓦尔菲尔诺和肖德龙经常从陈列馆偷窃名画提供给奸诈的商人或肆无忌惮的私人收藏家。他们先制作名画的赝品，然后向博物馆的工作人员行贿，以便在博物馆工作人员的协助下将伪造品粘在原作的背后，尔后他们再将文物贩子带到陈列室，并要他在要买的那幅画的背面做上秘密的记号。当然，事实上文物贩子只是在赝品的背面作记号。在此之后，瓦尔菲尔诺就伪造一些剪报宣称原作被盗，然后拿出带有秘密记号的赝品。如果买画的贩子看见画仍然在展出，偷盗者将说服他相信展出的画是赝品，而卖给他的才是真正的原作。

Chaudron then painted not one, but six copies of the Mona Lisa, using 400-year-old wood panels from antique Italian furniture. The forgeries（赝品） were carefully aged, so that the varnish（光泽） was cracked and dirty. Valfierno commissioned Perrugia to steal the original, and told him to hide it until Valfierno contacted him. Perrugia waited in vain in a tiny room in Paris with the painting, but heard nothing from his partners in crime. They had gone to New York, where the six copies were already in store. They had sent them there before the original was stolen. At that time it was quite common for artists to copy old masters, which would be sold quite honestly（合法的） as imitations（仿造品）, so there had been no problems with US Customs. Valfierno went on to sell all six copies for '300,OOO each. Valfierno told the story to a journalist in 1914, on condition that it would not be published until his death.

肖德龙不仅伪造了一幅，而是六幅《蒙娜丽莎》。他用400年前古意大利老家具做油画板，所有赝品均经过了细心的老化处理，以使油画表面产生裂缝显得不干净。瓦尔菲尔诺指派佩鲁吉亚盗走《蒙娜丽莎》的真品并叫他躲藏起来直到与他取得联系。佩鲁吉亚一直带者那幅画首在巴黎的一间小屋里，可是他却一直未见同伙们的踪迹。原来瓦尔菲尔诺和肖德龙早已跑到了纽约，那里储存着六幅《蒙娜丽莎》的赝品。他们在原作被盗前就已将赝品运到了美国。在那个时代，艺术家们复制已故大师的作品是司空见惯的事情，而且复制品还能够合法地在市场上进行交易，因此复制品可以毫不费力地通过美国海关。在美国瓦尔菲尔诺以每幅300，000美元的价格陆续将这六幅《蒙娜丽莎》赝品出售。1914年瓦尔菲尔诺将事件真相透露给了一位记者，条件是只有等到他死后才能将此事公之于众。

Does the story end there? Collectors have claimed that Perrugia returned a copy. It is also possible that Leonardo may have painted several versions of the Mona Lisa, or they might be copies made by Leonardo's pupils. There has been a lot of controversy and argument about a 450-year-old painting, but after all, maybe that's what she's smiling about.

事情就此了解了吗?收藏专家们宣称佩鲁吉亚还回的《蒙娜丽莎》或许是赝品。或许当初达·芬奇创作了几个不同版本的《蒙娜丽莎》；或许这些《蒙娜丽莎》皆为达·芬奇的学生们制作的复制品。因此迄今为止人们对于这幅有着450年左右历史的名画，仍有着诸多的争议。也许，这就是蒙娜丽莎微笑的原因吧!