Empty-wall reports, 22 August 1911
Press
Paris papers and police notices fix the discovery date and the Salon Carré location. They are the opening exhibit.
The object was recovered and matched. That is a stronger close than Gardner or Antwerp.
What is thinner is the exact list of any helpers — a side question that does not unpick the conviction.
Exhibits
Uffizi authentication, December 1913
Object
Poggi's examination and the Louvre's later confirmation identify the Florence panel as the missing Leonardo.
Geri correspondence
Document
The dealer's contact with the man offering the picture is the recovery path. It is a paper trail, not a vault tale.
Florence judgment
Court
Peruggia's conviction and short sentence are the legal close. Patriotic speeches did not become title.
Apollinaire file
Testimony
The poet's arrest and release document a famous false lead, useful as a caution, not as a second thief.
1914 return inventories
Document
Louvre receipt of the panel in January 1914 ends the missing-object half of the dossier.
How strong is the record?
Who took the panel92
Peruggia was convicted; the object was in his offer path.
Object recovered98
Authenticated in Florence and returned to the Louvre in January 1914.
Wider conspiracy25
Rumours of masterminds have not replaced the Florence dock.
Fame effect95
The mass celebrity of the smile is the best-documented cultural result.
Evidence returned a painting and convicted a man. The rest is celebrity history.
Public-record encyclopedia. Not legal advice. Not a how-to. Graphic detail is withheld. Wars belong in a separate atlas.