Laszlo Toth (Hungarian: Tóth László; born 1 July 1938) is a Hungarian-born Australian geologist. He achieved worldwide notoriety when he vandalised Michelangelo's Pietà statue on 21 May 1972. 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.
Early life
Toth was born in Pilisvörösvár, Hungary to a Catholic family. After graduating with a degree in geology, he moved to Australia in 1965. As his English was poor and his geology diploma was not recognised, he initially worked at a soap factory. In June 1971, he moved to Rome, Italy, knowing no Italian, intending to become recognised as Christ. He sent letters to Pope Paul VI and unsuccessfully attempted to meet him.[1]
Vandalism of Pietà
On 21 May 1972, at 33 years of age (the traditional age of Jesus at his death) on the Feast of Pentecost, Toth, wielding a geologist's hammer and shouting, "I am Jesus Christ—risen from the dead",[1][3][4] attacked Michelangelo's Pietà statue in St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City. With fifteen blows, he removed Mary's arm at the elbow, knocked off a chunk of her nose, and chipped one of her eyelids.[4] He was subdued by bystanders, including American sculptor Bob Cassilly, who struck Toth several times before pulling him away from the Pietà.[5] Following his arrest, Toth repeated his claim that he was Christ and said that God had compelled him to destroy the statue because Christ, being eternal, could not have a mother.[6] In view of his apparent mental instability, Toth was never charged with the crime. On 29 January 1973, he was committed to an Italian psychiatric hospital. He was released on 9 February 1975 and immediately deported back to Australia where authorities did not detain him.[3]
Comic book artist Steve Ditko used Toth's actions as the central metaphor in his 1992 examination of issues concerning creation and destruction, Lazlo's Hammer (corrected to "Laszlo's Hammer" in subsequent reprints and revisions).[8]
Toth is referenced in "Dough, Ray and Me", the eighth episode of the thirteenth season of the animated television series Archer,[9] in which secret agent Sterling Archer asks fellow spy Lana Kane if she is about to ruin his masterpiece plan.
Toth is the name of the protagonist in the 2024 film, The Brutalist, directed and produced by Brady Corbet, and starring Adrien Brody as Toth. One review of the film [10] suggests that: "Corbet’s name choice for his protagonist is perhaps intentional and/or ironic. The Brutalist is shot in the real marble quarry in Italy (Carrara) where Michelangelo sourced materials for his statues, including the Pietà. The fictional László takes his client Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce) there to source marble for the community center they're building. As Los Angeles Times critic Amy Nicholson points out in her review of the film, Michelangelo worked for contentious employers who refused to compensate him, just like László in the film."
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