The Mona Lisa Vanishes by Nicholas Day

The Mona Lisa Vanishes tells of an astonishing theft while tracing the background of the world’s most famous painting.

The Mona Lisa Vanishes: A Legendary Painter, a Shocking Heist, and the Birth of a Global Celebrity by Nicholas Day, illustrated by Brett Helquist. Random House Studio, 2023, 252 pages

Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12

Recommended for: ages 10-15

A Shocking Heist

On a sweltering day in August, a nondescript character in a white smock walked into the Louvre with the other visitors. But he didn’t walk out—not that day. He spent the night in a storage closet, and early the next morning he left the Louvre with a heavy, unwieldy object under his smock. The security guards didn’t notice him. They didn’t notice anything else amiss until one of them realized a prize painting had been stolen: none other than the Mona Lisa. Then and there began a sensational news story that grew to involve some of the world’s most notable thieves and detectives as well as the latest forensic techniques, inventive theories, and outright lies. By the time she was recovered, the Mona Lisa (regarded as just another Renaissance masterpiece before) had become the most famous painting in the world.

A Reluctant Painter

Of course we know she was recovered, or tourists would not be flocking to the Louvre today to take selfies with her. But how that happened, and how Lisa Gioconda came to be painted in the first place, forms the narrative spine of this rollicking, rambling, and far-reaching tale. It’s a slice of turn-of-the-century Europe as well as a picture of 15^th century Italy, where Medicis and Borgias fought over political power. And where a talented painter was experimenting with flight and anatomy and music and even paint. Leonardo was often so absorbed with experiments he turned down commissions, and those he accepted he often didn’t finish. No one knows why he agreed to paint the second wife of a Florentine merchant (and actually finished the painting), but he may have just needed the money.

That’s the pedestrian background to the enigmatic smile and the sidelong glance that has enchanted art aficionados and launched a thousand parodies ever since. One needn’t be an art lover to enjoy this story: one of the fascinating corners of history.

Overall rating: 4 (out of 5)

• Worldview/moral value: 3.5
• Artistic/literary value: 4.5

Read more about our ratings here.

Also at Redeemed Reader:

• Reviews: Learn more about great artists through An Eye For Art. And use art to boost brain power with SmART, the Young-Reader version of Visual Intelligence.
• Resource: It’s never too young to start with art! See 5 Ways to Encourage Art Appreciation with Picture Books.
• Resource: If you love a mystery, see our popular Mystery Booklist for Elementary, Tweens, and Teens.

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