A man dressed as an older woman and sitting in a wheelchair tossed cake Sunday at the Mona Lisa hanging in the Louvre in Paris, France.
The artwork, which remained safe amid the chaos, had cream wiped on its protective glass casing and the person, who was reportedly wearing a wig and lipstick, told bystanders to “Think of the Earth” following the incident, BBC News reported Monday.
Video footage showed crowds standing before the painting as someone cleaned the white substance off the glass:
Further into the clip, a man wearing a black wig, red scarf, and hat was seeing addressing bystanders as what appeared to be security guards tried to get him to move along.
Moments later, they seemed to push him down the hallway.
A photo showed a closer look at the painting after the incident:
A witness named Luke Sundberg recalled that “The crowd begin gasping and we looked up and some man in a wheelchair [dressed] as an old lady ran up to the painting and started punching it before smearing cake all over it.”
He added it took approximately 15 seconds for security guards to drag the man away, noting,”It was jaw-dropping, it was a lot to take in considering how historic Mona Lisa is… the moment was once in a million.”
According to the Louvre’s website, since 2005 the Mona Lisa has been kept in the glass case:
This special treatment stems partly from the need to ensure the safety of such a famous work, but is also due to conservation requirements: the work was not painted on canvas, but on a panel of poplar wood which has warped over the years, causing a crack to appear. To prevent further damage, the Mona Lisa has to be kept in a temperature and humidity-controlled glass case.
Meanwhile, the activist also apparently tossed roses while inside the building.
He reportedly said, “There are people who are destroying the Earth. Think about it. Artists tell you: think of the Earth. That’s why I did this.”
Following the incident, a 36-year-old man was detained and transported to a law enforcement psychiatric unit, the Paris prosecutor’s office stated.
The office also said it was looking into the damage of cultural artifacts.
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