In 1911, a Louvre handyman named Vincenzo Peruggia hid in a supply closet after hours, lifted the Mona Lisa off the wall, and walked out with it under his smock. He kept it in a trunk in his Paris apartment for two years before trying to sell it to a gallery in Florence. The dealer agreed to the price, took possession, and immediately called the police. The worldwide media frenzy caused by the theft is the reason the Mona Lisa became the most famous painting in the world.