Man hurls cake at Mona Lisa, says he did it for the Earth. From sulphuric acid to ceramic cup, all that the painting has survived, so far [details]

The art community was left shocked on Sunday after the news of someone trying to smear Mona Lisa with cake went viral on social media. A man disguised as an old woman in a wheelchair, suddenly stood up and threw cake at the original Mona Lisa at Louvre in Paris. Thankfully, the master piece by Leonardo Da Vinci was shielded by a protective glass.

Witnesses on social media

Some of the witnesses came forward on social media to share the first account of what they saw. The visitor disguised as an old woman threw off the wig and suddenly went for the painting armed with cake. After which, the man started screaming, "Think about the Earth. We're destroying the Earth. Artists need to think about the Earth. That's why I did it." After the incident happened, those in charge of the security immediately rushed to eject the man from the museum, while the rest of the staff rushed to clean up the cake from the glass. The other visitors present continued to take the footage and images of the incident, most of which were later circulated widely.

Not the first attempt to disfigure Mona Lisa

This is not the first time the painting, which was created between 1503 and 1519 by Leonardo Da Vinci, has been in controversy or news or under attack from those frustrated or protesting or looking at fifteen minutes of fame. Once a Russian woman, who failed to obtain French nationality, hurled a ceramic cup at the painting. While the cup smashed into pieces, it could not harm the painting's protective screen. The attack happened in the August of 2009 and the woman was arrested immediately.

Art vandalism is unfortunately common since historical times of invasion. But before Da Vinci's most popular and significant artwork could be encased in bullet proof glass, it once suffered hugely at the hands of an attacker, who threw sulphuric acid on it and doused the lower half of the painting in acid. A few months from this incident, a Bolivian national threw a rock at the painting which chipped off some of the pigment near the figure's left elbow. Today the painting remains one of the most protected art works in the world, thanks to its deranged admirers and protestors. In 1974, while the artwork was at Tokyo National Museum, a woman sprayed red paint on it as a means of protesting against the museum for not allowing disabled people into the exhibition.