The Iron Grill, from the Cathedral of Vallodolid Spain, Makes a Magnificent Background for Mona Lisa at the Great Medieval Hall (for the Christian Science Monitor)
Emil Weiss American, born Moravia
Not on view
This is one of a group of designs for cartoons published in the Chrisitan Science Monitor that relate to the exhibition of the Mona Lisa at the Metropolitan Museum between February 7 and March 4, 1963. The famous painting was lent to the United States by the government of the French Republic, arriving in January at the National Gallery, Washington DC. Record-breaking crowds greeted it in New York, with visitors willing to wait in line for hours along Fifth Avenue. Here, the painting is displayed behind the iron grill in the Medieval Hall while a guard oversees visitors.