Latest news with #Gabbiani
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Tourist posing for photo punches hole through masterpiece painting in Italy
A male tourist damaged Baroque painter Anton Domenico Gabbiani's portrait of Ferdinando de' Medici, Grand Prince of Tuscany, a circa 1695-1700 masterpiece on display at the Uffizi Galleries in Florence, Italy. The man tripped backwards into the portrait on Saturday while trying to pose for a photo. The gallery will remain closed until July 2, during which the painting will undergo repairs.
Telegraph
14 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Ban selfie-takers from museums – these people don't deserve to see great art
A few years ago, I found myself standing before Vernet's Portrait of a Lady in Los Angeles' County Museum of Art, taking a series of ' anger-management breaths '. What had made me cross enough to engage in a stress reduction technique I remain unconvinced by? Not the pursed-mouthed woman on the canvas, but the girl who had placed herself between me and the famous 19th-century portrait, phone aloft, face contorted into a series of cretinous expressions. She was taking selfies. Because that's what people do now when they see anything or anybody famous. Because what's the point of those things without 'le grand moi', the all-important you? There's a social media expression: 'pics or it didn't happen'. Really, it's 'pics or it doesn't count'. That painting was of zero value without her gurning little face in the frame. And when she met her friends later, the girl could pull out her phone and say: 'There's me – and Vernet's Portrait of a Lady.' Only one thing will take me from zero to 60 faster than a museum selfie-taker, and that's a museum selfie-taker who thinks it's beyond hilarious to assume the same pose as the subject of the painting. A goon like the Uffizi visitor who was trying so hard to perfect the same pose as Anton Domenico Gabbiani's Ferdinando de' Medici on Saturday, that he lost his balance and leant back against the canvas, tearing a hole in the bottom corner. Yesterday, the director of the Uffizi declared an official crackdown on selfie-takers. 'The problem of visitors coming to museums to make memes or take selfies for social media is rampant,' said Simone Verde. 'We will set very precise limits, preventing behaviour that is not compatible with the sense of our institutions and respect for cultural heritage. The tourist, who was immediately identified, will be prosecuted.' Good. Ban him, while you're at it. Do we have to wait until people fall through our most celebrated canvases and topple our ancient statues to do the same? British museums have been forced to embrace selfie culture because they fear that a crackdown would deter visitors. Some have even reconfigured themselves to be 'selfie-friendly' and advertised 'national selfie day' in an attempt to ingratiate themselves with the young. It's true that there are instances where that kind of 'engagement' does work. A lot of contemporary art is created with a kind of audience participation in mind, for example. But with anything older, museums are running the risk of alienating their core clientele. Ban selfies and you encourage people to take in their cultural heritage – perhaps even develop a little respect for it. Let those who are only interested in worshipping at their own altars stay at home, twisting, turning and gurning in front of their mirrors.
