Woman in hot water after attacking the Mona Lisa with a mug of English Breakfast tea



A woman is being held in Paris after attacking the Mona Lisa with a cup of English breakfast tea.



The woman threw the ceramic mug full of the steaming brew over the heads of tourists, scoring a direct hit on the most famous work of art in the world in front of stunned security guards at the French capital's Louvre Museum.

The mug bounced off the bullet-proof glass and shattered on the floor, a security guard said.



Tourists gaze at the Mona Lisa, encased behind barriers and bullet-proof glass in the Louvre (file photo). A woman has been arrested after hurling a mug at the painting

Guards wrestled the Russian to the ground following the attack on August 2nd - a Sunday - which has only just been reported.



A museum spokesman said: 'There was no damage done to the painting whatsoever.

'It is protected by bullet-proof glass almost two centimetres thick, and also contained in a special sealed box to protect it from vibrations and humidity.

'It is one of the most well guarded works of art in the world, and it would take more than a well-aimed tea-cup to damage it.'

A source at the museum claimed the woman had bought the mug of tea at a museum cafe.



Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa is the most famous painting in the world

The woman was pounced on by two museum security guards and handed over to central Paris police after the incident on August 2.

She is being held in custody and is said to have undergone a psychological examination.

Doctors were trying to assess whether she was suffering from Stendhal Syndrome, a rare condition that causes dizziness, confusion or violent acts when an individual is exposed to art.

A police spokesman added: 'We are still establishing her state of mind at the time, though there is a possibility she could be charged with criminal damage.'

In July last year, a 32-year-old woman wearing lipstick kissed a painting by American artist Cy Twombly on display in Avignon, leaving left a large red smudge.

At the Orsay Museum in Paris a year earlier, a man ripped a hole in a painting by impressionist Claude Monet.

The last attack on a work of art at the Louvre was in 1998, when a mathematics professor attacked a statue of Roman philosopher Seneca with a hammer.

The Mona Lisa is the only painting ever to have been stolen from the Louvre, in 1911, and then recovered.

In 1956, it was damaged when a vandal threw acid over it while it was on display at a museum in Montauban, in France.

The same year, a Bolivian man threw a rock at the painting, damaging paintwork below the Mona Lisa's left elbow.

It is owned by the French government and is seen by an estimated 8.5 million people a year.

