The Man Who Stole the Mona Lisa and Took It to Italy | Hacker News Reader

The Man Who Stole the Mona Lisa and Took It to Italy

nytimes.com

68 pointsfortran7716 comments

Vincenzo Peruggia one of us. :P (yeah, yeah, I know France ownership of the Mona Lisa is written in historical documents)

When we won the FIFA World Cup in 2006 against France, for months there was a "meme" about us wanting the Mona Lisa back.

Everyone was using a ringtone about it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFHKgVPaGoU

The guy in the tv spot became a meme himself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxZG21UPH0A

Ah, good times.

From the desc of the 2nd link:

> The actor of the movie is particulary hated by almost all Italian people. I let you judge why :P

Why though?

This is the first time I saw the commercial, but I can tell you I already hate him for the same reason I hate the crazy frog. It sounds catchy as first, but it's just an annoying novelty song and if everyone had it as their ringtone, it would get real old real fast (just like the crazy frog axel f song).

This reminds me of the recent movie about the man who stole the Duke of Wellington portrait from the National Gallery in London in the 1960s.

Both were caught due to their own actions and not those of investigators.

It was amusing because he (Duke of Wellington thief) was only convicted of stealing the frame, as the jury decided that he had only borrowed the painting itself.

That was a rather enjoyable movie.

I think there was an episode of Drunk History about this. Jack Black played Vincenzo if I recall.

Non-paywalled: https://archive.ph/Pebba

There's a series called "Raiders of the Lost Art" that tells these kind of tales. I've enjoyed both seasons. Currently on Curiosity Stream I believe: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5067190/

some people say that the popularity of the monalisa is due more to the fact that has been stolen many times as opposed to its actual artistic value. it's more about the story behind the piece than the piece itself

I'm sure there's an academic word for it, but after some point, popularity can simply breed more popularity, without any actionable, functional reason.

Get popular enough, and people will find it worthwhile to publish reasons for why something is as popular as it is, just to therapeutically reassure themselves that the adoration isn't meaningless.

> I'm sure there's an academic word for it

kardashianism?

Bandwagoning is as old as time itself.

I think it's a bit different from bandwagoning.

Lindy effect kind of comes close

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_effect

The Matthew effect of accumulated advantage, Matthew principle, or Matthew effect for short, is sometimes summarized by the adage "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer". The concept is applicable to matters of fame or status, but may also be applied literally to cumulative advantage of economic capital. In the beginning, Matthew effects were primarily focused on the inequality in the way scientists were recognized for their work. However, Norman W. Storer, of Columbia University, led a new wave of research. He believed he discovered that the inequality that existed in the social sciences also existed in other institutions.

How many times has it been stolen? This is the only theft I can find any info about.

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