Yves Chaudron clones of Leonardo's great portrait" while Valfierno made arrangements to steal the real painting. 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. Decker asserts that six Chaudron copies had already been sent to the United States ahead of the theft and while the stolen original remained in France, Valfierno followed his fakes and sold each for up to 300,000. The original remained hidden for two years until Peruggia, presenting himself as Leonardo Vincenzo, tried to sell it in Florence, Italy.
The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting film was featured in film festivals after its release such as the London Film Festival in 1979. "Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting" has been noted as one of Ruiz’s masterpieces that challenges the boundaries of cinema and film theory. “You can say "The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting" is a detective film because of its riddle… In a more baroque system as in the system of "Hypothesis", you don’t enjoy finding the enigma.” "Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting" begins with a static shot of a street which appears at first to be a still image or photograph. The opening shot