Defaced: Delacroix Painting 'Liberty Leading The People' Damaged By Woman, 28

The Delacroix painting 'Liberty Leading The People' has been defaced at the Louvre Lens museum. The museum, in the northern town of Lens, an extension of the more famous Parisian museum, have said that the painting should be easily restored but that it needs to be examined by a restorer. Yesterday (February 7, 2013), a 28-year-old woman scrawled 30cm of graffiti on the bottom of the painting, BBC News reports. She was immediately detained by one of the museum’s guards.

The painting is said to have inspired the Statue of Liberty in New York and commemorates the July Revolution of 1830. The painting dates from the same year and was featured as the design on the pre-Euro 100 Franc note. It’s being exhibited in Lens for one year. According to the BBC, French media have quoted unnamed sources as saying that the graffito was a reference to the 9/11 conspiracy theory. A local prosecutor, Philippe Peyroux told AFP that the woman held in custody appeared to be “unstable” and confirmed that he had ordered a psychiatric examination. The identity of the woman has not yet been released.

It’s currently unclear whether or not the painting will have to be removed from the museum. The gallery remains closed today.