The Mona Lisa Just Got Caked — Seriously
The Mona Lisa kept smiling this weekend, even as a man disguised as a wheelchair-bound, elderly woman attempted to soil the painting with an unexpected weapon, causing a commotion at Paris's Louvre Museum. The Guardian reports that the famous work of art was unharmed in the attempted vandalism because it's enclosed in a bullet-proof case.
CNN Style reports that the Mona Lisa may be the most well-known painting in the world. Around six million tourists flock to Paris to view the renowned work of art every year (per The Travel). And while visiting France may have changed the way Guy Fieri thinks about food, his only link to the Mona Lisa is by way of the pizza place featured on "Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives."
This isn't the first time someone's taken a stab at harming Leonardo Da Vinci's famous painting, according to ARTNews. In fact, in 1956, someone threw a rock at it, detaching a fleck of paint from the canvas, which was later repaired. Even before that, in 1911, an Italian man named Vincenzo Perrugia stole the renowned artwork, ultimately landing him in prison for six months.
Man disguised as elderly woman targets famous painting with cake
The latest attempted attack on the Mona Lisa tasted like sweet revenge — at least that's what the offender, who was protesting what he perceived as a lack of art focused on "the planet," said as he smeared cake across the Mona Lisa's protective, bulletproof case. Many museum visitors recorded the man, who was dressed as an old woman, as he stood up from a wheelchair and caked the case, according to The Guardian.
As he rose, the man said, "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 Mona Lisa, which has been behind glass since someone chucked a rock at it in 1956, was unharmed. The protester was arrested and taken to a psychiatric facility. A prosecutor opened an investigation of "the attempt of damaging a cultural property," according to CNN Style.
The precious work of art may have been saved by the special casing, but what a waste of cake. We hope, at the very least, he used one of our incredibly simple to make cake recipes.