Beyond the Mona Lisa: Five Overlooked Masterpieces at the Louvre

The Louvre's Mona Lisa, stolen in 1911 by Vincenzo Peruggia, became the world's most famous painting, drawing crowds that overlook other masterpieces. This article highlights five such works, offering tips to avoid crowds, such as visiting the Richelieu wing or Friday evening openings. The featured pieces include the five-legged Lamassu of Khorsabad, an Assyrian guardian from Sargon II's palace, notable for its optical illusion and tragic history; Georges de La Tour's 'The Cheat,' a 17th-century painting depicting a card game with a hidden scam, which helped revive the artist's reputation after being rediscovered in 1926; Vermeer's 'The Lacemaker,' a tiny masterpiece (24.5 x 21 cm) that reflects his use of camera obscura and his posthumous obscurity until Théophile Thoré-Bürger's research in the 1860s; the 'Sleeping Hermaphroditus,' a Roman copy of a Greek bronze with a marble mattress carved by Bernini in 1620; and Poussin's 'Et in Arcadia Ego,' famous for its ambiguous Latin phrase and later conspiracy theories linking it to the Holy Grail, as popularized by 'The Da Vinci Code.' These works, though not secret, are often sidelined, and seeking them out offers a more rewarding experience.