Man Arrested For Throwing Cake on Mona Lisa Painting
The most famous smile in the world was briefly obscured when a man smeared some cream cake over the Mona Lisa, in what seems to have been a climate protest.
The Mona Lisa painting is one of the most famous paintings in the world. It was painted by Leonardo da Vinci between 1503 and 1519. The painting has been on permanent display at the Louvre museum in Paris. It was worth $900 million in 2021. It is the most expensive painting in the world and it heavily guarded. Now a shocking video has gone viral on social media. A man had disguised himself as an elderly lady in a wheelchair. He was wearing a wig and makeup. He did this to gain access to the spot right in front of the painting reserved for the handicapped. Then he sprung from a wheelchair and ducked under a rope barrier and started banging on the glass of the painting. When the glass did not break he smeared the cream cake over the glass case that protects the painting. As security guards pounced on him, the man threw red roses at their feet.
As they led him away, the man told the crowd, in French: "Think about the Earth. There are people who are destroying the Earth. Think about it ... all artists, think about the Earth — this is why I did this. Think about the planet." The Louvre issued a statement Monday saying the painting had not suffered any damage. The museum said the man had hidden the cake inside his personal belongings. He was a 36-year-old man and has been sent to a police psychiatric unit for evaluation. An investigation has been opened on charges of damage of cultural artifacts. This isn't the first time the iconic painting has run into trouble. In 1911, the Mona Lisa disappeared from the museum. For more than two years, there were no hints on where it could be. Then someone tried to sell the painting to an Italian art dealer and someone informed the police. That’s when the painting was recovered and brought back to the museum.
However that time there was no glass on the painting. It was open but someone atatcked it with acid in 1950s. That’s when the museum put bulletproof glass on the painting for protection. However many experts believe that the painting on display is a high quality replica and the real painting is hidden in the Lourve. If you are interested to know more about the history of the Mona Lisa, then let us know in the comments below.
