French police have detained(задержали) a woman accused of defacing(порча) an iconic Delacroix painting, Liberty Leading The People, at a branch(филиал) of the Louvre Museum.
She was held after being seen scrawling(каракули) a graffiti tag on the painting, a Romantic masterpiece painted in 1830 to celebrate a French uprising.
The museum in the northern town of Lens said the work might easily be cleaned but would be examined by a restorer.
The Louvre Lens museum only opened in the former mining town in December.
The painting by Eugene Delacroix, which featured on the pre-euro, 100-franc French banknote and reportedly inspired the Statue of Liberty in New York, is being exhibited(выставлена) in Lens for a year.
French media quoted unnamed legal sources as saying the graffito was a clear reference to a 9/11 conspiracy theory.
The gallery remained closed to the public on Friday.
'Unstable' Just before closing time the previous day, a 28-year-old woman scrawled the 30cm (12in) graffito on the bottom of the painting and was immediately detained by a museum guard, France's 20 Minutes news website reported.
The work itself, which commemorates the July Revolution of 1830, measures 325cm by 260cm.
The mark may be "easily cleaned" but a restoration expert was being sent from the parent museum in Paris, the museum said in a statement.
No decision has yet been taken on whether the painting will have to be removed, the museum was quoted as saying by French broadcaster France 3.
The local prosecutor(прокурор), Philippe Peyroux, told AFP news agency that the woman in custody appeared to be "unstable" and that he had requested a psychiatric examination.
He added that the woman, whose identity has not been released, had a "French-sounding name".
What painting was defaced? When was the picture painted? When was The Louvre Lens museum opened? How did the woman deface the painting?
I don't see the meaning of such actions! Why did she do that? If you don't like art, It doesn't mean that you can deface it. I think it's a terrible act of vandalism.
I can't understand how a person can spoil a work of art! And I don't understand what security guards were doing at this moment. People must create works of art but not destroy them! I am a very creative person and I relate gently and reverently to art in general. Of course, this woman is not normal. I don't know people who don't like art but apparently, this woman is a hater of art. It's right that she was arrested.
