The Mona Lisa Vanishes Characters - basic

Leonardo da Vinci

Painter of the Mona Lisa; apprenticed under Verrocchio; worked for patrons like Ludovico Sforza and Francis I; died in France at 66.

Lisa Gherardini

The woman in the painting; married silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo at 15; sat for Leonardo around 1503; never got the finished portrait; died in a convent.

Vincenzo Perugia

Stole the Mona Lisa in 1911; was a glazier who'd worked on the Louvre's protective glass; hid the painting for 2+ years; claimed patriotic motives; caught trying to sell it in Florence.

Alphonse Bertillon

Famous criminologist; found the thief's thumbprint on the display glass but failed to match it to Perugia; also known for wrongly convicting Alfred Dreyfus.

Francesco del Giocondo

Lisa's husband; wealthy silk merchant; commissioned the portrait.

Louis Béroud

Painter who discovered the Mona Lisa was missing and pushed for an investigation.

Louis Lépine

Paris police chief who led the massive (and largely unsuccessful) investigation.

Théophile Homolle

Louvre director who'd bragged the painting couldn't be stolen; fired after the theft.

Pablo Picasso

Bought stolen Louvre statues from Géry Pieret; got swept into the Mona Lisa investigation and denied knowing his friend Apollinaire.

Guillaume Apollinaire

Poet, Picasso's close friend; briefly arrested as a suspect for possessing stolen Louvre items.

Alfredo Geri

Florentine art dealer Perugia contacted to sell the painting; helped recover it.

Giovanni Poggi

Uffizi director who authenticated the recovered painting.

Andrea del Verrocchio

Leonardo's teacher in Florence.

Ludovico Sforza

Duke of Milan; Leonardo's patron for ~20 years.

Francis I

French king; Leonardo's final patron; supposedly at his deathbed.

Géry Pieret

Small-time thief who stole Louvre statues and sold some to Picasso.

Eduardo de Valfierno

FICTIONAL "mastermind" from a false, popular news story