On Sunday, a guy dressed as an elderly woman in a wheelchair hurled a piece of cake at the glass shielding the Mona Lisa at the Louvre Museum and yelled at visitors to consider the earth.
Videos posted on social media appear to show a young man in a wig and lipstick who had arrived in a wheelchair. The unidentified individual was also seen dumping roses in the museum gallery.
The cake attack left a visible white creamy mark on the glass, but Leonardo da Vinci’s famed painting remained unscathed.
Security guards were recorded taking the wig-wearing protester away as he exclaimed to the gallery’s shocked visitors, “Think about the Earth.” There are people who are wreaking havoc on the planet. Consider this. Think of the Earth, artists say. That is why I did it.”
Guards were then filmed smearing cream off the glass. The officials at the Louvre were not immediately available for comment.
The 16th century Renaissance masterwork has previously been threatened before. The picture was stolen by a museum employee in 1911, which heightened its international prominence. It was also damaged in an acid attack by a vandal in the 1950s and is now housed behind glass.
In 1956, a student from Bolivia hurled a stone at the painting. A Russian woman who was upset about not being able to obtain French citizenship hurled a ceramic cup at it in 2009, destroying the cup but not the glass or the painting.
The Mona Lisa is one of the most valuable paintings in the world, with a painting insurance valuation of USD 100 million (reported in 1962). The artwork is regarded as a pivotal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance. The Mona Lisa has fascinated viewers for decades with its enigma and fantasy.
