By: Nina Huang
Have you ever seen the famous Mona Lisa painting that hangs in the Louvre art museum in Paris? Do you know anything about it? One thing you might not know about is the attacks on this painting. The most recent attack occurred with, let’s see, cake? Yep, who knew just a piece of cake can get out of hand?
The Cake “Bomb”
This attack happened in May of this year. It was caused by a man who sat in a wheel chair, disguised as an old lady. No one must have been aware when he threw the cake. When a security guard asked him to leave, the man stated, “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.” The Associated Press said that the man was sent to a psychiatric unit after this incident.
Other Attacks
As you may know, the cake scene wasn’t the only struggle the painting has faced. The first attack happened when the Mona Lisa did not have any protective glass shielding her. In the 1950s, someone threw acid at the painting. This caused the Louvre staff to put up protective glass over the painting. Grunge.com reported that in 1974 someone sprayed red paint onto the painting. But thankfully, the protective glass was covering the masterpiece. The last incident I’m including here happened in 1911 when someone stole the priceless oil painting and tried to sell it for a fortune. The consumer noticed this and reported the theft to the Louvre. Well, at least now you know that the Mona Lisa and other famous paintings aren’t so easy to protect.