A 300-year-old painting in Florence’s Uffizi Gallery has allegedly been damaged after a visitor tripped while posing for a photo with the artwork.
The Uffizi said the painting, a portrait of Tuscan prince Ferdinando de’ Medici painted by Anton Domenico Gabbiani in 1712, was damaged after a visitor fell backwards while attempting to “make a meme” in front of it by mimicking the prince’s pose.
Security camera footage circulated by Italian media over the weekend showed a visitor leaning back and falling into the painting, with a closeup revealing a tear in the canvas.
The portrait (centre) before it was damaged. Photograph: Uffizi
The Uffizi told the BBC that the individual had been identified by the police and reported to judicial authorities.
The painting has been removed for repair, and the exhibition it was part of – featuring about 150 18th century masterpieces by artists including Goya, Tiepolo and Canaletto – has been closed until 2 July, after which it is expected to reopen with the painting back on display.
The museum’s director, Simone Verde, said in a statement: “The problem of visitors coming to museums to make memes or take selfies for social media is rampant.”
He said the Uffizi was considering imposing restrictions on visitor behaviour: “We will set very precise limits, preventing behaviour that is not compatible with the sense of our institutions and respect for cultural heritage.”
In a similar incident earlier this month, tourists damaged an artwork at the Palazzo Maffei in Verona while attempting to pose for a photo with it.
The artwork – a crystal-encrusted chair by artist Nicola Bolla – “shattered before their eyes”, the museum said in a statement.
“It would be ridiculous – if it hadn’t actually happened. A museum’s worst nightmare,” the museum’s director, Vanessa Carlon, said at the time.
“Sometimes we lose our brains to take a picture, and we don’t think about the consequences.”