Mona Lisa’s not so smiley anymore

Some people will do anything to be a French Citizen…

A Russian woman who was apparently frustrated at having failed to obtain French nationality, is said to have hurled a ceramic cup at the Mona Lisa but failed to leave her mark on Leonardo da Vinci’s painting, a spokesman for the Louvre museum has said.

The unnamed woman brought an English-made mug into the museum on the first Sunday of the month, when admission was free. She hurled it at the painting and it shattered against the protective bulletproof glass, leaving the masterpiece undamaged. The woman, described as “visibly upset”, later told police she was frustrated that she had not been granted French citizenship. She underwent psychiatric testing and was released.

The Louvre filed a legal complaint as a matter of course because police were called to intervene.