Woman Vandalizes Famed Delacroix Painting in Louvre

France's Louvre museum has shut down one of its galleries after a woman vandalized its star exhibit, Delacroix's iconic painting "Liberty Leading the People", by writing on it with a black marker.

Published

3 months ago

Categories

Arts & Society

Topics

Arts & Culture, Europe

Places

France, Paris

Transcript

SHOTLIST LENS, France, Dec 3 and 31, 2012 Source: AFPTV (Camera: Aurelia Moussly) -VAR of "Liberty Guiding the People" LENS, France, 8 Feb 2013 SOURCE: AFPTV VOX 1 (French, 13 sec): "We were partly astonished, but also sad to know that a work of art may have been vandalised here in Europe. You'd think it shouldn't be too bad. And this does happen in museums all over the world." -GVs gallery closed to public VOX 2 (French, 8 sec): "We just found out we can't see it. Of course [we're disappointed], we've come from Luxembourg." -GVs gallery closed to public ====================================== AFP TEXT STORY Woman vandalises famed Delacroix painting in Louvre =(FILE PICTURE)= LILLE, France, Feb 8, 2013 (AFP) - France's Louvre museum shut down one of its galleries Friday after a woman vandalised an iconic painting by Delacroix by writing on it with a black marker. The 28-year-old woman was apprehended by an attendant late Thursday after scrawling "AE911" on "Liberty Leading the People", which was on show in the Louvre's recently-opened satellite branch in the northern former mining town of Lens. It was not immediately clear what the slogan meant. Police detained her and on Friday the museum said it was temporarily closing the wing of the museum in which the painting was being displayed. The Louvre said in a statement that a specialist art restorer was being sent to the site but that it believed the damage was not significant and could be easily repaired. A prosecutor in the nearby town of Bethune who is handling the case said he had asked for a psychiatric evaluation of the young woman who he said appeared to be "unbalanced". He said her reasons for defacing the painting were not yet clear. The painting by Delacroix commemorates France's July Revolution of 1830. It shows a bare-breasted woman personifying Liberty leading the people forward over the bodies of the fallen, holding the French tricolour in one hand and a bayonetted musket in the other. mlm/rm/am/yad