Mona Lisa ‘smeared’ with cake by suspected climate change protester dressed as elderly woman

Virgin Radio

30 May 2022, 14:11

A climate change protester has allegedly attempted to smear cake across the infamous Mona Lisa painting while dressed as an elderly woman.

It is believed the Leonardo da Vinci painting is unharmed after the cake was only smeared across the glass casing protecting the Mona Lisa, when the incident took place at the Louvre on Sunday, 29 May.

News of the incident surfaced after videos of the gallery room where the painting is displayed were shared on social media.

According to reports from inside the museum, a man wearing lipstick and a wig jumped out of a wheelchair and attempted to break the bulletproof glass protecting the painting before he “smeared cake on the glass” and threw “roses everywhere before being tackled by security”.

In a video uploaded by someone at the scene, the protestor outlined the reason he did it.

Speaking in French, he says: “There are people who are destroying the Earth … All artists, think about the Earth. That’s why I did this. Think of the planet.”

The protestor is then escorted out of the gallery room by security.

Thanks to the glass casing around the painting, which has been at the Louvre Museum in Paris since 1797, it is not thought to be damaged in any way as a result of the cake smearing.

According to The Guardian, a 36-year-old man has now been arrested and placed in psychiatric care following the incident.

Officials at the Louvre have yet to comment.

The Mona Lisa is one of the world's most treasured paintings and this isn't the first time it has survived an attack.

In 1956, a woman attempted to throw acid on the portrait, prompting the Louvre to place bulletproof glass around the painting. Later in the 70s, someone else sprayed red paint on the case to protest an ableist policy that prevented disabled people from viewing the masterpiece.

The most recent incident before the one on Sunday came in 2009 when a Russian visitor threw a ceramic mug at the Mona Lisa to protest being refused French citizenship.