On Sunday, a man threw a piece of cake in the direction of Leonardo da Vinci’s canvas, which was not damaged thanks to its protective glass. This is not the first time that the notoriety of the Mona Lisa has attracted vandals.
Her popularity seems to make her a prime target. This Sunday, Mona Lisa was targeted by a shot of cream cake. On social media, several videos showed the glass protecting the famous painting stained with cream, officers trying to clean it. The author, a young man apprehended immediately after the fact, spoke of a gesture in support of the environmental cause.
“A man dressed as an old lady got up from a wheelchair and tried to break the protective glass of the Mona Lisa. He then spread cake on the glass,” says a witness on Twitter.
Every day, a dense crowd gathers in front of Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece. Nearly 30,000 daily visitors come to admire and photograph it. With this worldwide fame, it is not the first time that Mona Lisa is the victim of an attack.
• In 1911, the painting was stolen
In August 1911, the painting disappeared from the square living room, a small room reserved for masterpieces, on the first floor of the Louvre. The famous painting has been stolen. A vast investigation is opened, during which Guillaume Apollinaire or even Pablo Picasso will be suspected, and rewards are put in place to find her. It is also on this occasion that the painting becomes even more famous and acquires an invaluable status.
The thief is an Italian glazier, Vincenzo Peruggia, who notably participated in the work of putting under glass the most important works of the museum, in order to protect them, precisely, from vandals. His act is often justified by his “patriotism”.
He kept the painting for two years in his bedroom, hidden in the false bottom of a white wooden suitcase, under his bed. Mona Lisa does not return to the Louvre until January 1914 where it is henceforth placed under increased surveillance.
• In 1956, jets of projectiles
The year 1956 was not easy for Mona Lisa. The canvas is, in fact, the victim of two attempts at degradation during the same year. First, a man sprays the painting with acid paint, severely damaging the canvas.
A few months later, on December 30, 1956, a young Bolivian who had come to work in France threw a stone at Leonardo da Vinci’s painting. The projectile thus breaks the protective glass and the shards cause damage to the left arm of the Mona Lisa, which had to be repainted afterwards.
Following these acts of vandalism, the famous painting is placed under reinforced protection. It is now sheltered in a box preventing its natural degradation and is also protected from attempts at degradation by an armored window.
• In 1974, a hectic trip to Tokyo
In 1974, during a trip to Tokyo for an exhibition, Mona Lisa is the target of an attack with red paint by a visitor in a wheelchair, wishing to express her dissatisfaction with the lack of access ramps in the museum. If the liquid has not touched the canvas, the latter’s popularity makes it a prime target for claims of all kinds.
• In 2009, broken crockery
In August 2009, at the Louvre, a woman of Russian origin threw an empty cup in the direction of the painting. The dishes thus broke against the armored glass, scratching it very slightly. The woman justified her gesture by the fact that she had not been granted French nationality.