The building was only open to staff when the Italian man entered the famous Salon Carré, scanned the wall of priceless artworks and walked up to a portrait of a smiling woman. It's believed artist Louis Béroud first reported the missing artwork to security after arriving at the gallery the next morning to find the place the portrait once occupied on the wall was bare. Thousands of copies of the smiling woman were circulated by French police on the streets of the city, while newspapers around the world included the portrait in stories of the theft.
Author: Lucia Stein, Marc Fennell, and Taryn Priadko
Published at: 2025-04-13 21:00:00
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