Guillaume Apollinaire returned one of the stolen statues to the French newspaper the "Paris-Journal". Apollinaire implicated his friend Picasso, who was also brought in for questioning in the theft of the "Mona Lisa", but he was also exonerated. The theft of the "Mona Lisa" was perpetrated by Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian house painter who acted alone and was only caught two years later when he tried to sell the painting in Florence. Apollinaire wrote the preface for the first Cubist exposition outside of Paris; "VIII Salon des Indépendants", Brussels, 1911. In an open-handed preface to the catalogue of the Brussels Indépendants show,
Paris in the 17th century exposition of works of art of its members. These exhibitions were held every two years, opening on August 25, the day of Saint-Louis. They were first held in the court of the Palais-Royal, then in the Grand Gallery of the Louvre, and then, beginning in 1699, in the Salon Carré of the Louvre, which gave the event the name "Salon". It became the chief avenue for French artists to achieve recognition and success. The most famous painter to work in Paris during the period was Peter Paul Rubens, who came to the city in 1622 to paint a series of