300-year-old painting in the Uffizi damaged after visitor trips while trying to ‘make a meme'
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.
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 Uffizi told the BBC that the individual had been identified by the police and reported to judicial authorities.
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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.'
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