Excerpt © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Jaujard, The Savior of the Louvre, from Chapter 6 The story of the Altaussee art hoard, the largest of the secret storehouses of Nazi looted art, has a fascinating addendum. Among the many enduring mysteries of this period, one that refuses to be resolved regards the fate of the world's most famous painting. For it seems that Leonardo's Mona Lisa was among the stolen paintings found in the Altaussee mine. Or was it? It only "seems" to have been found there, because contradictory information has come down through history, and the Mona Lisa is not mentioned as having ever been in the mine in any wartime document, Nazi or Allied. Documentary evidence states that it was stored at Château de Montal when the war ended, and that it was never in Nazi hands. In most cases, documentary evidence means case closed--that's as close as one can get to an objective historical truth. But what if documentary evidence sources, as well as first-person accounts by people who were there, contradict each another? For its part, the Louvre Museum has remained surprisingly silent regarding the whereabouts of its treasures during the war. It was only in 2014 that an Emmy award-winning documentary film, The Man Who Saved the Louvre, was released and, through it, the story was introduced to an audience that was neither francophone nor specialized in art history. The protagonist of that story was Jacques Jaujard. Excerpted from The Thefts of the Mona Lisa: The Complete Story of the World's Most Famous Artwork by Noah Charney All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
