Editing Yves Chaudron (section)

== Theft of the Mona Lisa ==
The ''Mona Lisa''<nowiki/>'s vacant space atThe Louvre after its theft in 1911.

Valfierno's account relayed by reporter Karl Decker, in ''The Saturday Evening Post'' in 1932. According to Decker, Valfierno had provided details of the theft in confidence; to be published only after his death.<sup>[1]</sup>

According to that account, in 1910, Valfierno had conspired with Chaudron to steal the ''Mona Lisa'' and produce copies of the painting which would then be sold to private buyers. The plan had been to sell each copy as the "original" while the location of the real painting was unknown.<sup>[2]</sup>

Chaudron, "spent the winter of 1910 creating clones of Leonardo's great portrait" while Valfierno made arrangements to steal the real painting.<sup>[3]</sup> In the early hours of 21 August 1911, Louvre employee Vincenzo Peruggia and two accomplices carried the ''Mona Lisa'' out of the museum covered in a painter's smock.<sup>[4]</sup>