"

 Postwar damage 

The article currently states,

In 1956, the lower part of the painting was severely damaged when someone doused it with acid. On December 30 of that same year, Ugo Ungaza Villegas, a young Bolivian, damaged the painting by throwing a rock at it.

Can anyone perhaps elaborate on this? I mean, the dousing of the painting with acid is reported as though this is a normal thing to be done to a masterpiece and so nothing further needs to be said about it. Did someone just stroll into the Louvre with a beaker of acid and throw it onto the painting? I'd be interested to know the circumstances of this event, in particular why this was done and how it was allowed to happen. Who did it? What was the motivation? How was it repaired? etc. etc. |Talk "