Mona Lisa had closed. Peruggia was an Italian patriot who believed Leonardo's painting should have been returned for display in an Italian museum. Peruggia may have been motivated by an associate whose copies of the original would significantly rise in value after the painting's theft. A later account suggested Eduardo de Valfierno had been the mastermind of the theft and had commissioned forger Yves Chaudron to create six copies of the painting to sell in the U.S. while the location of the original was unclear. However, the original painting remained in Europe. After having kept the "Mona Lisa" in his apartment for
Saint Jerome in Penitence (Lotto, Paris) Saint Jerome in Penitence (Lotto, Paris) Saint Jerome in Penitence is an oil on panel painting by Lorenzo Lotto. Its signature ("Lotus") is fully legible, but the final number of the date is illegible, though it is usually dated to around 1506. It is now in the Louvre. It is traditionally ascribed to the painter's period in Treviso, possibly commissioned by bishop Bernardo de' Rossi for private devotion. A 1510 inventory shows that de' Rossi owned a painting of Saint Jerome, but it is not known for certain that it was the work now in Paris. Some theories hold it