By: Alisa Wei
A layer of protective glass prevented the Mona Lisa from being caked in “cake”, though the portrait remained unflinching after the sweet dessert was smeared across her glass casing.
On a typical day at the Louvre Museum, a 36-year-old man disguised as an old woman in a wheelchair stopped to admire the famous artwork when, suddenly, he hurled a piece of cake at the painting, smearing frosting all over the glass. Videos later circulated online of him being escorted from the museum by security guards, still wearing his wig and sitting in his wheelchair, protesting in French, “Think of the Earth! There are people who are destroying the Earth! Think about it. Artists tell you: think of the Earth. That’s why I did this.”
According to The Associated Press, the man was detained and sent to a psychiatric unit. As the world’s most famous piece of art, this isn’t the first time the Mona Lisa has been attacked. After an acid attack in the 1950s, a protective glass casing was placed around the painting to protect the renowned painting.
This wasn’t the first time the Mona Lisa had run into trouble. The painting had disappeared from the museum in 1911 until someone attempted to sell the art to an Italian art dealer, who immediately informed authorities. The Louvre says on its website, “So the Mona Lisa was recovered — and her fame was all the greater.”