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Unless I'm mistaken you're directly invoking a utilitarian argument for why the Mona Lisa has value.
Because people could, in theory, value the copy of the Mona Lisa just as much as the original... if they don't know it is a copy.
Else, from whence could the value come?
If the value is based on the fact that people value it, this gets to my point that replacing it with a copy prevents the actual harm in question.
You seem to be tying the whole situation to how much 'good' people experience due to the existence of the Mona Lisa, and that sounds like Utilitarianism to me.
Deontology would be "It is bad to destroy rare works of art in all cases."
Virtue Ethics would be something like "Good people don't destroy cultural artifacts."
Your ethical basis is, what?
The "they don't know if it's a copy" part is where utilitarianism breaks down. Utilitarianism can't handle situations where people want X, but falsely believe that X. According to utilitarianism, making them falsely believe X is just as good as X being true.
If the Mona Lisa has been destroyed, the belief "the Mona Lisa exists" is a false belief, and the "benefit" from that false belief shouldn't count as benefit. (And taking away the "benefit" shouldn't count as harm.) Utilitarianism would count it.
Unless there would be an immense amount of disutility created from either people believing X, or from them eventually finding out X is false.
I think there are situations where lies are harmless, even if later discovered.
The utilitarian calculation need not rest on the assumption that the lie will remain intact indefinitely.
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