PARIS, August 11 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian woman upset by her failure to obtain French nationality threw a ceramic mug at the Mona Lisa, but did not damage the world's most famous work of art, a Louvre Museum spokesman said on Tuesday.
"The woman threw an empty mug at the Mona Lisa, but the mug shattered against the protective screen. She came to the museum alone," the official said.
Leonardo da Vinci's picture is protected by bullet-proof glass.
The unnamed woman was immediately pounced on by museum security guards and handed over to police after the incident, which occurred on August 2. She later told police she had been upset because she had not been granted French citizenship.
Media reports said the Russian was undergoing a psychiatric examination.
The woman has since been released, but faces legal action in Paris. "We have lodged a petition with a court," the Louvre spokesman said, adding the date of a court hearing had not been set yet.
Russia's Embassy in France told RIA Novosti it knew nothing of the incident: "No one has approached us for assistance."
The famed portrait has already suffered attacks from visitors. In 1956, a Bolivian man threw a rock at it, damaging paintwork below the Mona Lisa's left elbow.
