Iconic painting defaced in Louvre

French police have detained a woman accused of defacing an iconic Delacroix painting, Liberty Leading The People, at a branch of the Louvre Museum, BBC News reported.


She was held after being seen scrawling 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 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.