The Crime of the Century – B1 English Reading Test

The Crime of the Century

When the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre in Paris in 1911 it caused a sensation and left the art world and police puzzled as to how it had been taken and who had carried out the crime. It also helped make the work of art probably the most famous painting in the world.

At first, the police suspected artists who didn’t like classical works of art of carrying out the crime. The poet Apollinaire was arrested and questioned for a few days. (1)………..

However, the true thief was an Italian man named Vincenzo Peruggia. He had a criminal record and had found work in the Louvre for a time. On the day the crime took place, he entered the museum along with other museum employees wearing the same white smock. (2)……….. He then took the painting off the wall and left the building with the work of art wrapped in his white smock.

Peruggia kept the painting for two years in his Paris apartment before eventually contacting an Italian art dealer, offering to return the painting to Florence for a reward. (3)……….. He argued he was returning the painting to its rightful home.

He was finally arrested after passing the painting to the dealer. However, many Italians saw his actions as those of a national hero. (4)……….. The painting was indeed shown off around Italy before it was eventually returned to Paris and the Louvre.

(5)……….. However, after being stolen and finally returned, it became more well known, its popularity grew and, as we know now, made the Mona Lisa smile famous around the world.

A   Previously, the painting had been admired by experts.

B   He waited until there was nobody in the gallery.

C   So the painting became popular in France.

D   Because of this, he only went to prison for a short while.

E   He said that he was doing his duty as a proud Italian.

F   But nobody knew it had disappeared.

G   Even the great Pablo Picasso was thought by some to be guilty.

H   It is now kept safely behind special glass.