At long last, Berenson had freed himself from the vampiric face of the Mona Lisa. Today Leonardo’s painting, happily ...

Nearly 8.5 million people visit her every year. Yet few have ever heard about the time the Mona Lisa actually vanished from the Louvre in Paris for nearly two and a half years.

Up to 10 million people a year visit the "Mona Lisa" at the Louvre, crowding into the Paris gallery where "she gazes out from behind 3in of bulletproof glass", said The Times. Many visitors queue ...