Who Dunnit?
Rumors and theories about the identity and motive of the thief spread like wildfire. Some Frenchmen blamed the Germans, believing the theft a ploy to demoralize their country. Some Germans thought it was a ploy by the French to distract from international concerns. The prefect of the police had his own theory:
The thieves -- I am inclined to think there were more than one -- got away with it -- all right. So far nothing is known of their identity and whereabouts. I am certain that the motive was not a political one, but maybe it is a case of 'sabotage,' brought about by discontent among the Louvre employees. Possibly, on the other hand, the theft was committed by a maniac. A more serious possibility is that La Gioconda was stolen by some one [sic] who plans to make a monetary profit by blackmailing the Government [sic].3
Other theories blamed a Louvre worker, who stole the painting in order to reveal how bad the Louvre was protecting these treasures. Still others believed the whole thing was done as a joke and that the painting would be returned anonymously shortly.
On September 7, 1911, 17 days after the theft, the French arrested Guillaume Apollinaire. Five days later, he was released. Though Apollinaire was a friend of Géry Piéret, someone who had been stealing artifacts right under the guards' noses for quite a while, there was no evidence that he had any knowledge or had in any way participated in the theft of the Mona Lisa.
Though the public was restless and the investigators were searching, the Mona Lisa did not show up. Weeks went by. Months went by. Then years went by. The latest theory was the that the painting had been accidentally destroyed during a cleaning and the museum was using the idea of a theft as a cover-up.
Two years went by with no word about the real Mona Lisa. And then the thief made contact.
