Pie Face is Banksy’s gleeful slap in the face, literally, to the stiff formality of art history. Here, a noble 19th-century gentleman, resplendent in his red military coat, is immortalized in oil… mid-pie attack. The whipped cream and tin are painted with startling realism, interrupting the sitter’s composed dignity with a slapstick insult worthy of a circus skit. Part of Banksy’s “Crude Oil” series, the painting is both a visual prank and a philosophical jab. The pie becomes a symbol of rebellion, mockery, and the great equalizer of pride. The target? Aristocracy, military power, colonial heritage: take your pick. With this single gesture, Banksy reminds us that even the grandest portraits can be humbled by a well-aimed custard missile. By defacing the past with humor, Pie Face invites us to question what we preserve, what we revere, and what happens when sacred cows get a pie in the kisser.