The Mona Lisa was stolen from the museum and copied multiple times in a forgery scam — the rich marks were carefully vetted, each paid a fortune for one of the forgeries, thinking he’d won the closed envelope auction, and when the original (apparently the original) was returned to the museum, none of the marks dared come clean in an effort to get their money back for the fake they’d paid for.
There’s also the Islesworth Mona Lisa, other sidebars:
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/isleworthmonalisa/index
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2937799/posts
Very interesting - thanks for the lesson and links. I know so little about art - I wish I got “it” more. Been to many famous art museums - I’ve often felt that I don’t appreciate the works at the level the artists intended. Guess I’m a slightly over educated peasant