Mona Lisa Attacked: Cake-Tossing Culprit Vandalizes Priceless Painting
Visitors to the Louvre art gallery in Paris witnessed a stunning scene on Sunday when a man dressed as an elderly woman leaped from his wheelchair and threw cake at the Mona Lisa. The world’s most famous painting was left unscathed by the attacker, who attempted to break the glass protecting the artwork before security managed to take him down.
The shocking moment occurred moments before the Louvre was set to close on Sunday night. Witnesses say a man disguised as an elderly woman wearing a wig rolled past the 519-year-old painting before darting to his feet and launching a cake at Leonardo da Vinci's famous masterpiece.
Witnesses say the man then tried to smash the bullet-proof glass protecting the portrait of Lisa del Giocondo to no avail—before smearing icing all over it instead. He then threw roses everywhere before security tackled him.
"The man tried to smash the glass protecting the painting, and – when it didn’t break –smeared a cake across its surface," said an investigating source. "He did not cause any damage after leaping up from his wheelchair. It was pretty clear to everyone that he was a man pretending to be an old woman."
"Think of the earth, people are destroying the earth", the pie-tossing protester said as security from the Paris gallery led him away. "All artists think of the earth. That's why I did it."
A video shared online showed a Louvre staffer cleaning the glass following the attack by the cake-tossing culprit. The priceless painting did not receive any damage from the dessert-wielding demonstrator—thanks to the 1.52-inch-thick glass protecting the canvas.
Surprisingly, this isn’t the first time protesters have attacked the canvas to draw awareness to various causes. In 1956, a man splashed sulfuric acid on the painting as it hung at a museum in Montauban.
In 2011, a Russian woman tossed a cup of tea at the painting following a denial of her citizenship request by the French government. The protective glass received minor damage, but the painting remained unscathed.
The Mona Lisa is among the world's most valuable pieces of art. The painting holds a record for having the highest known painting insurance valuation in history at $100 million in 1962. equivalent to $870 million in 2021.
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