By: Ray Wu

The Mona Lisa, considered one of the best paintings in human history, was defaced earlier this week. A disguised man threw a piece of cake at the masterpiece to make a political statement.

He has been taken away to a psychiatric unit because of this incident.

Did you know that there is some good news? A glass frame covers the painting, so the mess was easy to clean. Even if the cake was too hard to clean off, they could get a new frame. It would look like nothing happened.

This was not the first time the Mona Lisa was defaced. In 1911, a museum employee stole it. In the 1950s, there was an acid attack that damaged the painting. Also, in 2009, a Russian woman threw a ceramic cup at the painting. That was when officials put a glass cover to protect it from further damage. The precautionary measure has saved the painting so it can be remembered.

The suspect yelled in French, “Think of the Earth! There are people destroying the Earth! Think about it. Artists tell you: Think of the Earth. That’s why I did this.” These sentences were remembered until now.

Even though this was not the first time the Mona Lisa was damaged or vandalized, people continue to attempt to destroy this masterpiece. Sometimes, for no reason at all.

The Mona Lisa has existed for over 500 years, and security guards are trying their best to protect this masterpiece. They respect the fact that Da Vinci spent around seven years of his life painting the Mona Lisa. So whether you like this painting or not, disrespecting Da Vinci isn’t the right thing to do.