In a sense La Gioconda (the Mona Lisa), taken from display, put her feet up during the Great War. One hundred years ago this week, Sydney's The World's News reported "Venus In A Steel Safe. How The Louvre Is Guarded From Bombs."
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
"For over a month the staff of the Louvre have worked hard to protect the chief works of art from bombs from the air. The Venus of Milo is enclosed in a steel room, the Winged Victory is behind heavy iron plates, and La Gioconda smiles inscrutably [stored and hidden] in obscurity ... The upper stories of the Louvre, with their glass roofs, have been turned into hospitals."
The Mona Lisa didn't leave the Louvre until August 28, 1939, and by September 3, with war coming, the Louvre had got a wriggle-on and had seen to it that most of its precious works (including and especially the big, heavy Venus de Milo) had left the premises.
