Lena found a death certificate for Croft. The cause of death: accidental drowning. The last address: Péniche “L’Espoir,” Quai d’Austerlitz.
And here was the bombshell: Croft claimed that the painting returned to the Louvre in 1913 was . Peruggia, in his hiding place under his bed, had kept the real one. The one returned was a forgery—a “twin” painted by Valfierno’s expert, Yves Chaudron. The Louvre, embarrassed and desperate, had accepted the fake. Le Vol De La Joconde Book English Translation
Prologue: The Vanishing