This painting was born by mandate of royalty. The noble Gherardini family asked Leonardo da Vinci to paint Lisa del Giocondo to celebrate the birth of her second child, Andrea. The painting is said to have been purchased by King Francis I of France, who used it to decorate his bathroom.
A century later, Napoleon Bonaparte moved it to the Louvre Museum and let it rest in peace for another century. In 1911, Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian ultra-nationalist, stole the famous painting and hid it for years. Leonardo's masterpiece was recovered and now sits static once again in the Louvre.
Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893
In 1994, while everyone was at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, a cunning thief needed only 50 seconds of distraction and a wooden ladder to steal the most important work of contemporary art within his reach. Ten years later, it was robbed again in broad daylight and before the eyes of visitors to the Munch Museum in Oslo by three hooded men who threatened those in charge with firearms.
Vincent Van Gogh, Self-Portrait Without a Beard
Van Gogh liked to paint self-portraits and between 1886 and 1889 he made more than 43 such works. Of this cluster of paintings, Self-portrait without a beard stands out. It is known that the author shaved especially for this painting because it was a gift for his mother. This is the only painting where you can see the Dutchman without a beard, which increases the value of the canvas. This painting was purchased in 1998 for the amount of 71.5 million dollars.
Carel Fabritius, The Goldfinch
Fabritius was a disciple of Rembrandt and painted much of his work in this style. For this painting he decided to find his own style and perhaps he would have managed to consolidate a new trend had it not been for the fact that he blew up the gunpowder store in his town, Delft City. The accident wiped out more than half the city, taking the painter and his works with it. Only The Goldfinch survived from that event.
Rembrandt, The Night Watch
This Rembrandt masterpiece has suffered repeated attempts at destruction due to man's madness. In 1911, a man cut the painting with a cobbler's knife and by 1975, an unemployed school teacher unleashed her fury with large zigzag cuts that can still be seen to this day. In 1990 he suffered a final attack at the hands of a man who sprayed acid on the canvas. Fortunately, the acid penetrated only the varnish layer and it could be restored very soon.
Diego Velázquez, The Venus of the mirror
The work was painted in the 17th century and since then it has passed through dozens of owners and traveled all over the world until it reached the National Gallery in London. In 1914, the canvas was attacked with a butcher's ax by Mary Richardson, a British suffragette who made seven long cuts in the shoulder area. Her action was revenge, since in days past the government had murdered one of her friends.
Vincent Van Gogh, Portrait of Dr Gachet
This painting was bought by Japanese billionaire Ryoei Saito for $82.5 million. The negative side of this act was that Ryoei decided that when he died, the painting should be burned with him. Apparently his wish was carried out to the letter, because as soon as he died, no more was heard of the work.
Pablo Picasso, The actor
This work was torn when a woman who was visiting the Museum of Contemporary Art in New York fell on it. Fortunately for her, the museum knew that she had been in an accident and did not charge her the $130 million she is valued at. This happened in 2010.
