२१ मे, २०२२

50 years ago today: "ROME, MAY 21—Michelangelo's Pieta, one of the world's most celebrated sculptures, was severely damaged today when a man attacked it with a hammer in St. Peter's Basilica."

"Hundreds of Whitsunday worshipers, pilgrims and tourists watched in horror as a young man with long reddish hair and a beard pushed into the side chapel to the right of the main entrance to St. Peter's, where the Pieta is on display over, an altar. He climbed over a marble balustrade, went up the stairs to the platform on which the sculpture rests, pulled out a hammer from under a raincoat he had over his arm and started battering the marble, shouting, 'I'm Jesus Christ.' The blows shattered the left arm of the figure of the Virgin Mary in the marble group and also chipped the nose, the left eye and the veil covering the hair... The assailant, who was identified as Laszlo Toth, 33 years old, of Sydney, Australia, was able to strike four or five hammer blows amid the gasps and shouts of the crowd before an Italian fireman ran up to him and pulled him down by his hair.... A Vatican spokesman said later that Mr. Toth had told Archbishop Benelli in English: 'If you kill me, so much the better, because I'll go straight to heaven.' The Hungarian‐born Mr. Toth had been living in Rome for some time and had acquired some notoriety for bizarre conduct. In an interview last November, II Messaggero of Rome presented him as a 'local character of sorts,' quoting Mr. Toth as saying that he was a geologist and had left Australia two years ago to return to Europe because 'I have seven mysteries to reveal.'"

The NYT reported, 50 years ago.

We're told that Pope Paul inspected the damage, knelt and prayed in front of it, and was overheard saying "Also most serious moral damage."

cc Stanislav Traykov.

ADDED: "Lazlo Toth" was used as a pen name by the comedian Don Novello (who played Father Guido Sarducci on "Saturday Night Live").
In the 1970s, Novello started to write letters to famous people under the pen name of Lazlo Toth (after Laszlo Toth, a deranged man who vandalized Michelangelo's Pietà in Rome). The letters, written to suggest a serious but misinformed and obtuse correspondent, were designed to tweak the noses of politicians and corporations. Many of them received serious responses; Novello sometimes continued the charade correspondence at length, with humorous results. The letters and responses were published in the books The Lazlo Letters, Citizen Lazlo!, and From Bush to Bush: The Lazlo Toth Letters.

Here's the Wikipedia article for Lazlo Toth, the vandal: 

He was not charged with a criminal offence after the incident, but was hospitalized in Italy for two years. On his release, he was immediately deported to Australia.... In June 1971 he moved to Rome, Italy, knowing no Italian, intending to become recognized as Christ.

The correct spelling of the name is Laszlo Toth.

Toth is on Wikipedia's "List of people claimed to be Jesus."

ALSO: The comics artist Steve Ditko is not obscure — he's best known for Spider-Man and Doctor Strange — but he has an obscure comic called "Laszlo's Hammer."  His Wikipedia article doesn't even mention "Laszlo's Hammer." It does mention this other pretty obscure — obscure to me — thing "Mr. A" — "a hero reflecting the influence of Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism." And we're told "Ditko largely declined to give interviews, saying he preferred to communicate through his work." Well, good. Make art. 

Here's some more about "Mr. A":

Rex Graine is a newspaper reporter... known for his uncompromising principles and incorruptibility. In order to fight crime, Graine wears metal gloves and a steel mask that resembles a placid face, thus becoming Mr. A... There is no origin story for the character, thus the only discernible reason why Graine sometimes disguises himself (both his identities are equally threatened by criminals and sometimes hated by the general public) is due to his choice to become a vigilante. Mr. A uses half white-half black calling cards to signify his arrival, as well as to represent his belief that there can only be good and evil, and no moral grey area.

Why must they all fight crime? Did Ayn Rand fight crime?

२६ टिप्पण्या:

rhhardin म्हणाले...

The two respondents in Lazlo Toth's first book that came off well, by the charity of taking Lazlo as a serious equal, were Richard Nixon and Nguyen Cao Ky.

Gilbert Pinfold म्हणाले...

Laszlo Spatula, please pick up the white courtesy phone...

lonejustice म्हणाले...

As a lawyer, I gravitated to the Althouse blog for its insightful posts on legal and political issues. I have been here for many years.

Now I am seeing regular posts about Tik Tok videos, and this insane commemoration of the desecration of Michelangelo's Pieta, which I have personally adored at Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.

All of my Amazon purchases are now going to Instapundit and Legal Insurrection

Amexpat म्हणाले...

I remember reading the Lazlo letters when they came out. Some were quite funny. I remember a gushing letter to Franco where he exclaimed; you're not just a general, you're a Generalissimo!

Ice Nine म्हणाले...

I first saw the Pietà in the late 70s, after Toth but when you could still stand close enough to it to touch it. It is so beautiful and moving that it brought tears to my eyes (I am neither Catholic nor religious). I've seen it twice since, these times with its being behind plexiglass and twenty feet away. It is still gorgeous of course but the barrier and the distance have taken away that intimacy that was a big part of what so moved me the first time, and have sadly diminished this most beautiful of sculptures.

farmgirl म्हणाले...

In a battle of good vs evil- wouldn’t evil be “crime”?
The moral battle is subliminal.

tcrosse म्हणाले...

In Hungarian the letter s is made sibilant by following it with a z, as in szex. Otherwise it is pronounced like the English sh.

gspencer म्हणाले...

Story brought back a memory. The ever and always beautiful Carol and I were days away from leaving for Europe where we would traipse through the great cities for as long as our money held out. While we were denied seeing the Pieta, our eyes were opened to one another. Too bad this writer didn't act on what he then knew. Sigh.

campy म्हणाले...

Fifty years ago? I note Tucker Carlson's 3rd birthday had occurred a few days earlier. I suspect his hate rhetoric provoked poor Mr. Toth.

Joe Smith म्हणाले...

This is on the very short list of the most incredible things you will ever see, and one of the most incredible artistic achievements in human history.

Take a look at some close up photos. If you are not moved then you are not human.

Michelangelo was only 24 years old when he finished it.

How do you create something like this at 24 and ever hope to repeat it artistically?

Then he created 'David' at 28 and finished the Sistine Chapel ceiling at 37.

He considered himself a sculptor and not a painter : )

One of a very small group of actual geniuses who has ever lived.

Michael K म्हणाले...

We have the modern equivalent in the idiots attacking and destroying or removing statues of historic people in our history. Lincoln will be next.

mikee म्हणाले...

Why are the personas adopted by the insane always a Jesus or a Napoleon, and not that of a quiet accountant who works for an insurance company?

Or are those of the latter persuasion just never discovered to be insane?

Goldenpause म्हणाले...

Response to Michael K: there are reports today that drunk college graduates (Georgetown is the college being mentioned) trashed the Lincoln Memorial last night during their revelries. At least Toth had the excuse that he was insane.

stunned म्हणाले...

People can't have nice things.

https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/art-vandalism-damaged-madmen/

Ann Althouse म्हणाले...

I saw the Pieta at the NY World's Fair in 1964 (and also at St. Peter's in 1999).

Ann Althouse म्हणाले...

At the World's Fair, you waited in line, then got on a conveyor belt that moved you past it.

Dave Begley म्हणाले...

Goldenpause:

If Georgetown students did, in fact, trash the Lincoln Memorial they should be expelled.

What I love most about being in the Big East is when Creighton - every season - crushes Georgetown in basketball.

Joe Smith म्हणाले...

'At the World's Fair, you waited in line, then got on a conveyor belt that moved you past it.'

Very interesting...like Disney's world of tomorrow : )

Amexpat म्हणाले...

I saw the Pieta at the NY World's Fair in 1964 (and also at St. Peter's in 1999).

I did as well, but I was so young my awe was of the spectacle around the Pietra rather than statue itself.

Readering म्हणाले...

I stood in line in Queens. My first trip as a tourist. Remember the line, and the darkness, not the conveyor belt.

TA म्हणाले...

Ran into Don in a late-night joint in Boston's Chinatown, sometime in the early 80's. His pupils were dime-sized, Was a big fan of Father Guido, back before "That's not funny!"

Marc in Eugene म्हणाले...

Fifty years! Fifty years ago, the NYT could print Paul Hofmann's dispatch with the expectation that its readers would know what 'Whitsunday' is. This tragic event happened decades before the Times decided to rid itself of so many irritatingly useless (and likely racist and misogynist) copy editors; the comma in the phrase "where the Pieta is on display over, an altar." is an error of the photographing of the archived printed text.

PM म्हणाले...

At the time, the lo-fi joke was "Pieta? I thought you said pinata."

Ambrose म्हणाले...

But what's the Tucker Carlson angle on this one?

realestateacct म्हणाले...

This is the sort of post that keeps me coming here every day.

realestateacct म्हणाले...

I to remember seeing the Pieta at the World's Fair on the conveyor belt.