On August 21, 1911, the unfathomable happened–Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa vanished from the Louvre. More than twenty-four hours passed before museum officials realized she was gone. The prime suspects were as shocking as the crime: Pablo Picasso and Guillaume Apollinaire, young provocateurs of a new art. As French detectives using the latest methods of criminology, including fingerprinting, tried to trace the thieves, a burgeoning international media hyped news of the heist. No story captured the imagination of the world quite like this one. Thousands flocked to the Louvre to see the empty space where the painting had hung. They mourned as if Mona Lisa were a lost loved one, left flowers and notes, and set new attendance records. For more than two years, Mona Lisa’s absence haunted the art world, provoking the question: Was she lost forever? A century later, questions still linger. Part love story, part mystery, Vanished Smile reopens the case of the most audacious and perplexing art theft ever committed. R. A. Scotti’s riveting, ingeniously realized account is itself a masterly portrait of a world in transition. Combining her skills as a historian and a novelist, Scotti turns the tantalizing clues into a story of the painting’s transformation into the most familiar and lasting icon of all time.

Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of Mona Lisa

Arts & Photography

Scotti, R.A.

Collections, Catalogs & Exhibitions

KNOPF

On August 21, 1911, Leonardo da Vinci’s most celebrated painting vanished from the Louvre. The prime suspects were as shocking as the crime: Pablo Picasso and Guillaume Apollinaire, young provocateurs of a new art. The sensational disappearing act captured the world’s imagination. Crowds stood in line to view the empty space on the museum wall. Thousands more waited, as concerned as if Mona Lisa were a missing person, for news of the lost painting. Almost a century later, questions still linger: Who really pinched Mona Lisa, and why? Part love story, part mystery, Vanished Smile reopens the puzzling case that transformed a Renaissance portrait into the most enduring icon of all time.

Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of the Mona Lisa

History & Criticism

Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Draws on period newspaper accounts, eyewitness testimony, and archival footage to recount the Great Hurricane of 1938, which left a trail of death and destruction across seven states and obliterated entire communities and families.

Sudden Sea: The Great Hurricane of 1938

History

Little,Brown

The massive destruction wreaked by the Hurricane of 1938 dwarfed that of the Chicago Fire, the San Francisco Earthquake, and the Mississippi floods of 1927, making the storm the worst natural disaster in U.S. history. Now, R.A. Scotti tells the story.

Americas

Back Bay Books

Rome in 1978 is the setting for this tale of a Pope allied with the Soviets and a trusted cardinal who becomes convinced he must betray the Prince of the Church he is sworn to serve

The Kiss of Judas

Literature & Fiction

Fawcett

Charles Desmond and Marco Boni's investigation into the financial affairs of business mogul Michele Carlatti uncovers a worldwide drug ring and a maze of global corruption that threatens Polish Solidarity

The Devil's Own

In this dramatic journey through religious and artistic history, R. A. Scotti traces the defining event of a glorious epoch: the building of St. Peter's Basilica. Begun by the ferociously ambitious Pope Julius II in 1506, the endeavor would span two tumultuous centuries, challenge the greatest Renaissance masters—Michelangelo, Raphael, and Bramante—and enrage Martin Luther. By the time it was completed, Shakespeare had written all of his plays, the Mayflower had reached Plymouth—and Rome had risen with its astounding basilica to become Europe's holy metropolis. A dazzling portrait of human achievement and excess, Basilica is a triumph of historical writing.

Basilica: The Splendor and the Scandal: Building St. Peter's

Penguin Publishing Group

The Hammer's Eye

When Matthias Conrad, a legendary C.I.A. spymaster forced into early retirement, discovers that fellow superspy August Merriman is about to pass the technology of Star Wars to the Soviets, Conrad intervenes

Random House Value Publishing

The Lost Mona Lisa

In the late afternoon of Sunday, 20 August 1911, three men strolled into the Louvre museum in Paris. Disguising themselves as museum staff they hid until nightfall. Sixteen hours later the most famous painting in the world, the Mona Lisa, had vanished. The theft of the Mona Lisa was the greatest crime ever to hit the art world. France closed her borders, a massive man-hunt was launched, even Picasso was a suspect - but all to no avail, the Mona Lisa had gone...until two years later when a letter arrived in Florence signed 'Leonardo'; the painting was for sale. "The Lost Mona Lisa" uncovers the truth behind the 'crime of the century'. It is a story to rival the best detective fiction - a story of audacious thieves, art forgers, shadowy conmen, millionaire collectors, a global manhunt, and the most beautiful and enigmatic woman in the world, Mona Lisa Gioconda.

Bantam]

Painting

BANTAM PRESS

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Scotti, R.A.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Scotti, R.A.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Scotti, R.A.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of Mona Lisa

Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of the Mona Lisa

Sudden Sea: The Great Hurricane of 1938

Sudden Sea: The Great Hurricane of 1938

The Kiss of Judas

The Devil's Own

Basilica: The Splendor and the Scandal: Building St. Peter's

The Hammer's Eye

The Lost Mona Lisa

The Lost Mona Lisa