German Duo Arrested After Hanging Paintings Next to Mona Lisa
The two men told Paris police the stunt was just "for fun."
French authorities apprehended two German men at the Louvre Museum on Saturday, September 19, after they affixed two paintings to a wall in the room housing Leonardo da Vinci's “Mona Lisa.”
Police told Agence France-Presse that the men used sticky tape to mount the 30 cm by 40 cm (~11.8 by 15.7 inches) paintings, one of which depicted one suspect in armor and the other showed the two with a woman.
The duo reportedly told police that they completed the stunt “for fun.” Once the museum files a formal complaint, the men will be summoned to court and face charges for the minor damage done to the wall.
While da Vinci's early 16th-century masterpiece reportedly sustained no damage during the stunt, the arrests come amid ongoing plans to move “Mona Lisa” to her own gallery. At her current station in the Salle des États exhibition hall, “Mona Lisa” is surrounded by paintings that receive comparably little attention, such as Paolo Veronese’s “The Wedding Feast at Cana” (1562–63).
