Context: The Pietá is a marble statue carved by Michelangelo that sits in St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City. It is considered to be one of Michelangelo’s greatest works and one of the greatest sculptures of all time.

On 21 May 1972, the statue was attacked by Laszlo Toth, a mentally ill Hungarian who believed he was Jesus Christ. With fifteen blows of a hammer, he removed Mary’s arm at the elbow, knocked off a chunk of her nose, and chipped one of her eyelids.

Before he could cause more damage to the statue, an American named Bob Cassilly (on his honeymoon with his new wife at the time), jumped up on the statue and pulled Toth to the floor violently by his beard. He then proceeded to land numerous blows onto Toth before the authorities arrived to arrest Toth.

Toth would be committed to a mental institution for two years and then deported to Australia.

Bob Cassilly would later become a renowned artist, sculptor, entrepreneur, and creative director based in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1997, Cassilly founded the City Museum, which draws over 700,000 visitors a year and is one of the city’s leading tourist attractions.