Actor Jodi Foster To Direct Film Based On Infamous Theft of the 'Mona Lisa' In 1911

[appalachiablue]

- 'Jodie Foster to Direct Film Based on Infamous 1911 ‘Mona Lisa’ Theft,' ArtNews, Jan. 30, 2020.

In the early hours of August 21, 1911, a handyman walked out of the Louvre with a bundle concealed under his white worker’s smock. He was in a hurry, having just stripped the Mona Lisa from its protective glass case and wooden frame. The man entered the nearby Quai d’Orsay train station and boarded the an express train out of Paris. More than a day passed before anyone noticed the blank wall space.

That dramatic chapter of art history will be adapted into a film helmed by Oscar-winning actress Jodie Foster. According to Deadline, Foster will base her movie on Seymour Reit’s 1981 book The Day They Stole the Mona Lisa, which recounts the brazen heist and ensuing media circus.



- Mona Lisa, or 'La Gioconda' By Leonardo, 1503-1507

The thief, an Italian petty criminal named Vincenzo Perugia, entered the Louvre disguised as an employee and hid until the museum closed for the night. As the crime remained unsolved despite a team of 60 detectives assigned to the case, and the Louvre was forced to reopen without resolution, the shocking heist transformed into a national scandal.

Screenwriters for the upcoming film will have no shortage of colorful characters: modernist writer Franz Kafka was among the curious onlookers who came to gawk at the vacant wall. Police arrested French poet Guillaume Apollinaire on the base of a tip from his disgruntled secretary. He pointed the police toward Pablo Picasso, who was also interrogated for the theft (he was cleared of any suspicion but was forced to return some Iberian Bronze Age statues)...

More, https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/jodie-foster-mona-lisa-theft-film-1202676606/

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leonardo-da-Vinci



- Actress Jodi Foster



- Artist Pablo Picasso in 1908.



- Family of Saltimbanques by Pablo Picasso, 1905.

[lunatica]

1. I will definitely go see it.

Jodie looks beautiful in that photograph. She has great bone structure and a very appealing lived-in look that just makes my fingers itch to draw her portrait.

[appalachiablue]

2. Jodi looks great, well said & pls. let us see your work if you draw her.

This movie should be excellent, can't wait to see it.

[lunatica]

4. I'll do some photo research and think about

drawing her. I always look for expressions that aren’t posed and that look like their natural expressions. Usually it’s the case that genuine laughter or enjoyment or real emotions can’t be faked unless the subject is really feeling it. This one may be it. But I have to do a search which also helps in getting those subtle tiny things that nail the face and the character behind it.

[Beakybird]

3. Glad they found it!

It's sad when the greatest works get lost to humanity through theft or the private collections of the uber wealthy.

[appalachiablue]

5. Definitely! To have lost it would mean super tragedy. To think

that Leonardo travelled carrying the 'Mona Lisa' through the Alps from Italy to France when he moved to the estate of King Francis I in the Loire late in life.