With the staggering Leonardo da Vinci exhibition now open at the museelouvre, gettyarchive recalls the time the artist’s most famous work was stolen, over a century ago.⁠ In August 1911, the disappearance of the ‘Mona Lisa’ captivated the public as completely as the painting’s enigmatic smile. ⁠ Whisked away from the Paris museum, it was a most sensational crime; with no sign of a break in, police were simply faced with an empty frame. ⁠ As enemies of the art establishment, leaders of the burgeoning avant-garde, including Picasso, were prime suspects. The writer, theorist and critic Guillaume Apollinaire was arrested and questioned for a week.⁠ It was to be over two years, in November 1913, before the real culprit gave himself away. ⁠ Italian Vincenzo Peruggia had hidden in the Louvre on the night before the painting vanished. Carefully removing the poplar panel from its frame, he walked out the next day with the Mona Lisa wrapped up within the white smock worn by all employees.⁠ Belie...