<p>We are really lucky to get lots of listener suggestions for the show, more good questions than we can possibly answer in a mailbag episode once or twice a year. So we’re starting a new segment we call… Decoder Rings Back! Every month, host Willa Paskin will personally call up a listener to answer their question.&nbsp;</p><p>In this inaugural installment of Decoder Rings Back, Willa calls up listener Dustin Malek about his cultural mystery: Why did the <em>Mona Lisa</em>, of all paintings, </p><p>become the most famous in the world, bar none? Willa shares the story of daring heist that turned Leonardo da Vinci’s enigmatic smiling subject into a celebrity.</p><br><p>Future episodes of Decoder Rings Back<em> </em>will only be available to Slate Plus subscribers. So if you want to be sure not to miss them, sign up for Slate Plus! You’ll get exclusive episodes and ad-free listening not just on our show, but all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Decoder Ring show page on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/decoder-ring/id1376577202" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Apple Podcasts</a> or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/3vYNA0Ki5sUHnYC9QwQnKl" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Spotify</a>, or visit <a href="https://slate.com/podcast-plus?utm_medium=link&amp;utm_campaign=plus_pod&amp;utm_content=Decoder_Ring&amp;utm_source=episode_summary" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">slate.com/decoderplus</a> for access wherever you listen.&nbsp;</p><p>This episode was produced by Max Freedman. Decoder Ring is also produced by Katie Shepherd and Evan Chung, our supervising producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.</p><p>If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[email protected]</a> or leave a message on our hotline at (347) 460-7281.</p><br><p><strong>Sources for This Episode</strong></p><p>Cumming, Laura. “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/aug/05/mona-lisa-theft-louvre-leonardo" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The man who stole the Mona Lisa</a>,” The Guardian, August 5, 2011.</p><p>Hoobler, Dorothy, and Thomas Hoobler. “<a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2009/05/mona-lisa-excerpt200905?printable=true%C2%A4tPage=all" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Stealing Mona Lisa</a>,” Vanity Fair, April 16, 2009.</p><p>Hoobler, Dorothy, and Thomas Hoobler. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Crimes-Paris-Story-Murder-Detection/dp/0803234325" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>The Crimes of Paris: A True Story of Murder, Theft, and Detection</em></a>, Bison Books, 2010.</p><p>Isaacson, Walter. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Leonardo-Vinci-Walter-Isaacson/dp/1501139169/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Leonardo da Vinci</em></a>, Simon &amp; Schuster, 2018.</p><p>Roberts, Sam. “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/07/arts/design/mona-lisa-vincenzo-peruggia.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Happy Birthday to the Man Who Stole the Mona Lisa and Took It to Italy</a>,” The New York Times, October 7, 2022.</p><p>Sassoon, Donald. “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4289718" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mona Lisa: The Best-Known Girl in the Whole Wide World</a>,” History Workshop Journal, Spring 2001.</p><p>Sassoon, Donald. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mona-Lisa-History-Painting-Best-Known/dp/0007106157" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Mona Lisa: The History of the World’s Most Famous Painting</em></a>, HarperCollins, 2016.</p><p>“<a href="https://www.npr.org/2011/07/30/138800110/the-theft-that-made-the-mona-lisa-a-masterpiece" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Theft That Made The 'Mona Lisa' A Masterpiece</a>,” NPR, July 30, 2011.</p><p>Zug, James. “<a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/stolen-how-the-mona-lisa-became-the-worlds-most-famous-painting-16406234/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Stolen: How the Mona Lisa Became the World’s Most Famous Painting</a>,” Smithsonian Magazine, June 15, 2011.</p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>