Latest news with #PalazzoMaffei
Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Times
Gallery wars! Are you a selfie fan or a silent snob?
You might have imagined that the biggest security threat to the world's great artworks these days came from environmental activists intent on chucking soup, paint or powder at priceless treasures. Last week a Picasso in Montreal's Museum of Fine Arts became the latest target, splashed with pink paint. But two recent incidents in Italy suggest that the stupidity of ordinary visitors can be just as destructive as the wilful vandalism of protesters. At the renowned Uffizi Gallery in Florence an early 18th-century painting of Ferdinando de' Medici by Anton Gabbiani had to be removed for repairs, and an entire exhibition temporarily closed, after a visitor apparently fell backwards into it, tearing the canvas while trying to create a meme with a phone. The Uffizi's director, Simone Verde, says that the museum will now 'set very precise limits' on visitors intent on taking selfies that are 'not compatible with respect for cultural heritage'. I'm not sure what the Italian is for 'shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted', but you have to wonder why such an esteemed institution didn't have 'precise limits' in place already. Especially as, earlier this summer, two tourists at another Italian gallery — Verona's Palazzo Maffei — managed to shatter a crystal-covered chair by the artist Nicola Bolla by pretending to sit on it (then, inevitably, falling on it) while taking selfies of each other. But such crass behaviour is not confined to Italy. Whether it's the British Museum, the Louvre, the Prado or the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the world's great art repositories are packed with visitors who seem far more intent on taking selfies — with a glimpse of the Mona Lisa, an Egyptian mummy or a Van Gogh sunflower in the background — than on looking at the masterpiece itself. And the selfie mania is just one example of a whole range of behaviours that exasperate those who still cling to the belief that the most important thing in an art gallery is the art — which should be studied in as near to a reverential silence as is possible in these crowded public spaces. The trouble is that the people who cling to this old-fashioned belief don't seem to include many of those who run the UK's main galleries. In The Times last weekend Maria Balshaw, the director of the Tate museums, welcomed an influx of under-35 visitors 'who didn't used to come to museums' and who now apparently come because 'they like the artist-led experience but they also want nice wine, and they want to be seen in a crowd with other people'. • How to deter the art vandals — punish them properly In other words, they are there precisely because they are being offered a socially pleasurable experience, with some interesting stuff on the walls that they may or may not glance at in passing. In the 1980s the Victoria and Albert Museum was ridiculed for marketing itself with the infamous slogan 'an ace caff with quite a nice museum attached'. We can see now that it was simply ahead of the curve. Today it's not just the Tate trying to woo young punters by promoting itself as a place where you can have a nice chat with your mates and take a few pics for your social media account in congenial surroundings. It's nearly every museum and gallery in Britain. Cases in point? This week we learn who has won the Art Fund's Museum of the Year award. When I talked a few weeks ago to the directors of the five contenders I was struck by how much each of them emphasised one aim above all others: to widen their museum's appeal by making their institutions as welcoming to newcomers as possible. • Read more art reviews, guides and interviews Laudable, you may say. But should that strategy include permitting, or even encouraging, new visitors — unaware of any museum etiquette — to behave as they would in a theme park? Or to feel that they haven't properly validated their experience of a great artwork unless they spend their whole time in its company setting up the perfect meme to amuse their followers on Insta? There are wider currents at work here, of course. We live in a mad age where we happily devalue every significant moment in life — from birth to marriage to your kid's first bike ride — by turning it into an amateur photoshoot. We also live at a time when, culturally, every experience must be reduced to its lowest common denominator lest it be labelled with the dread word 'elitist'. Which seems to mean tolerating behaviour that, even 20 years ago, would have been regarded as unacceptably antisocial. That's why, at certain West End shows on Friday and Saturday nights, drunken theatregoers now regularly heckle the performers — imagining that they have a licence to behave boorishly because they have paid for a ticket. Or why distinguished symphony orchestras have got into trouble with their longstanding supporters and indeed their musicians by tolerating audience members who film concerts illicitly on their phones. At a time when every arts institution is still trying to get its ticket sales back to pre-Covid levels, you can understand why arts leaders are reluctant to set rules that might deter new punters. But would a little etiquette really put them off? When people step inside the National Gallery they surely don't want to experience the same hubbub as outside in Trafalgar Square. They want to escape from that. Learning to look at art — really look at it, not just glance in passing — is a skill best nurtured in an atmosphere of tranquillity. There's also the matter of behaving in a way that shows respect — respect both for other visitors and for the magnitude of the artistic genius arrayed all around you. 'Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life,' Picasso said. Well, it can do if we give it the time and concentration to work its magic on us. But for that to happen you have to accept that, when you step into a room with great art in it, the most important thing in that room isn't you. Sounds obvious, until you watch someone fall onto a 300-year-old painting while trying to take a selfie. by Blanca SchofieldSchoolboys damage the Elgin Marbles, British Museum, London, 1961The British government's case in the back and forth with the Greeks about the future of the 2,500-year-old sculptures can't have been helped by the two rowdy students who had a fight and fell into the artwork, knocking off part of a centaur's hind leg. Worse, the damage was irrevocable as archivists couldn't replace the missing chips. Always keep an eye on the kids: this year a child made headlines by scratching a £42 million Rothko in Rotterdam. A man falls into three Qing dynasty vases, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 2006Always double-knot your shoes. Nick Flynn, 42, tripped over his untied laces when walking down a staircase and ended up falling into three 400-year-old Chinese vases, worth £100,000. He blamed the absence of a handrail but even so, he was banned from the museum. The Metropolitan Museum of Art was kinder to the woman who lost her balance at an art class in 2010 and ripped the £80 million Picasso work The Actor — refusing to give her name to the press and reassuring her it would be fixed in a couple of months. Pauline Bonaparte loses her toes, Antonio Canova Museum, Possagno, 2020Antique chairs in museums often bear a sign saying 'please do not sit here', but you'd think that might go without saying for sculptures. Not so for one Austrian tourist who decided to lie on Antonio Canova's sculpture of Napoleon's sister, looking to replicate her pose for a photo. He broke off her toes in the process, but promised to pay for damages. He wasn't the only one to damage a digit: in 2013 an American tourist held the hand of a 14th-century statue in Florence and broke off its little finger. The display banana is eaten … twice, Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul, 2023Maurizio Cattelan is the artist behind the golden toilet that was sensationally stolen from Blenheim Palace in 2019. In the same year he taped a banana to a wall and gave it the title Comedian. It was also stolen — or, rather, eaten. The first time the perpetrator was a fellow artist, David Datuna, at Art Basel, Miami, and Cattelan may have been in on the joke. In 2023, however, the incident occurred in South Korea at the hands of an art student. His excuse? He was hungry.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Botched selfie: Tourist damages 18th-century painting at Uffizi Gallery in Florence
A tourist attempting to capture a picture of himself in front of an 18th-century portrait at the Uffizi Galleries in Florence tripped and left a hole in the artwork. The man taking a selfie stumbled on the platform intended to keep visitors at a distance from the portrait of Ferdinando de' Medici, "Grand Duke of Tuscany" (c.1695–1700) by Italian Baroque painter Anton Domenico Gabbiani. The footage of the incident was published in local media and on social media. The painting, which is included in the exhibition "Florence and Europe: Arts of the 18th Century" at the Uffizi, has since been removed for repair. The museum concluded that the damage is relatively minor. Still, the exhibition is now closed until 2 July following the incident. The painting will be repaired in the interim so it is ready to go back on display. The exhibition will then run, as originally planned, until 28 November. Simone Verde, the director of Uffizi Galleries said in a statement: 'The problem of visitors coming to museums to make memes or take selfies for social media is rampant: we will set very precise limits, preventing behaviour that is not compatible with the sense of our institutions and respect for cultural heritage." Verde added: "The tourist, who was immediately identified, will be prosecuted.' Museum-goers looking for the perfect snap and accidentally damaging exhibits is an increasing problem. The incident follows another recent damage courtesy of a tourist at the Palazzo Maffei in Verona. A visitor damaged a crystal-studded work called "Van Gogh's Chair" (2006-07) by the artist Nicola Bolla. CCTV footage caught the man sitting on the chair and posing for a photograph before the seat buckled under his weight. The museum said that the incident was reported to the police. In April, a painting by Mark Rothko was damaged by a child during an 'unguarded moment' at Dutch museum Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. The abstract painting from 1960, 'Grey, Orange on Maroon, No. 8', was 'scratched' by the child visiting the Rotterdam gallery where it was on display. Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad (AD) estimated that the painting was worth up to €50million.
Metro
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Metro
300-year-old painting destroyed after tourist tried to take a selfie with it
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video A man posing in front of a museum's priceless Medici painting stumbled and ripped the masterpiece in front of stunned onlookers. CCTV video footage from Italy's Uffizi Gallery in Florence on June 21 showed the unnamed tourist walking up to the 1712 Baroque painting, 'Portrait of Ferdinando de Medici, Grand Prince of Tuscany'. The piece was painted by Anton Domenico Gabbiani at the height of his career as a Medici family court artist. The tourist attempted to re-enact the pose of the prince in the picture before losing his balance and falling back onto the canvas. After tearing the masterpiece, he stood back up and put his hands behind his back as if to pretend he was just studying the portrait. Photos of the damage show a fist-sized hole in the canvas, now withdrawn from public view and undergoing painstaking repairs. Museum officials reported the visitor to the police, who are said to be investigating the incident. Uffizi director Simone Verde later said: 'Today, a tourist wanting to make a meme in front of a painting, stepping back in a pose like the portrayed Prince of Medici, hits the surface of the work. 'The problem of visitors who come to museums to make memes or take selfies for social media is rampant. 'We will set very precise limits, preventing behaviours that are not compatible with the purpose of our institutions and respect for cultural heritage.' The debacle comes days after a museum urged visitors to 'respect art' after a tourist sat on a famous crystal chair and shattered it. The so-called 'Van Gogh' chair, named after the legendary Dutch artist, was housed at Palazzo Maffei, an art gallery in Verona, northern Italy. Footage captured a couple posing for pictures around the chair after waiting for the security guard to leave. The woman pretends to sit down before the man places his weight on the seat, which promptly cracks. The chair, designed by Italian artist Nicola Bolla, was studded with Swarovski crystals. More Trending Palazzo Maffei shared the CCTV footage on Facebook, describing the described the act as an 'irresponsible gesture'. The museum said that, despite uncertainty over whether the fragile chair could be restored, they had managed to repair it. It said: 'Every museum's nightmare has become reality, even in Palazzo Maffei. Waiting for the surveillance officers to come out, some visitors took an 'in effect' photo. 'The result? An irresponsible gesture caused serious damage to Nicola Bolla's 'Van Gogh' chair, a very delicate work, covered entirely with hundreds of Swarovski crystals.' Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: I found a hidden gem next to the Amalfi Coast — it has all the charm without the crowds MORE: 'Just gorgeous': Your favourite European islands that aren't in Greece MORE: 'We need more spaces in London to nurture creativity' – how this venue is paving the way
Euronews
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Euronews
Botched selfie: Tourist damages priceless painting at Florence gallery
A tourist attempting to capture a picture of himself in front of an 18th-century portrait at the Uffizi Galleries in Florence tripped and left a hole in the artwork. The man taking a selfie stumbled on the platform intended to keep visitors at a distance from the portrait of Ferdinando de' Medici, "Grand Duke of Tuscany" (c.1695–1700) by Italian Baroque painter Anton Domenico Gabbiani. The footage of the incident was published in local media and on social media. The painting, which is included in the exhibition "Florence and Europe: Arts of the 18th Century" at the Uffizi, has since been removed for repair. The museum concluded that the damage is relatively minor. Still, the exhibition is now closed until 2 July following the incident. The painting will be repaired in the interim so it is ready to go back on display. The exhibition will then run, as originally planned, until 28 November. Simone Verde, the director of Uffizi Galleries said in a statement: 'The problem of visitors coming to museums to make memes or take selfies for social media is rampant: we will set very precise limits, preventing behaviour that is not compatible with the sense of our institutions and respect for cultural heritage." Verde added: "The tourist, who was immediately identified, will be prosecuted.' Museum-goers looking for the perfect snap and accidentally damaging exhibits is an increasing problem. The incident follows another recent damage courtesy of a tourist at the Palazzo Maffei in Verona. A visitor damaged a crystal-studded work called "Van Gogh's Chair" (2006-07) by the artist Nicola Bolla. CCTV footage caught the man sitting on the chair and posing for a photograph before the seat buckled under his weight. The museum said that the incident was reported to the police. In April, a painting by Mark Rothko was damaged by a child during an 'unguarded moment' at Dutch museum Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. The abstract painting from 1960, 'Grey, Orange on Maroon, No. 8', was 'scratched' by the child visiting the Rotterdam gallery where it was on display. Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad (AD) estimated that the painting was worth up to €50million.
New York Times
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Visitors Break Crystal Chair in Sit-and-Run at Italian Museum
The man and woman wait for the guards to leave the room before posing for their photo: squatting over a chair covered in Swarovski crystals, pretending to sit. She is taking the picture, he's posing. But the squatting takes just a few moments too long, and he accidentally sits back into the chair. He tries to hold on to the wall to keep himself up, to no avail. The fragile chair — a more sparkly version of the seat in a famous Vincent van Gogh painting — cannot hold the man's weight. The woman quickly helps him up and ushers him out of the room. These images spread around the internet this week after the Palazzo Maffei, a museum in Verona, Italy, released security footage of the two visitors who inadvertently damaged the artwork this spring. Museum officials said they had contacted the police, though they consider the mishap an accident. The local authorities have not learned the identities of the people in the video, and Ms. Carlon said the museum hoped that releasing it would encourage the accidental vandals to come forward and apologize. 'It wasn't such a brilliant thought to sit on an artwork,' Vanessa Carlon, the director of the museum, said in a phone interview on Tuesday. The bigger concern, she said, was how far people were willing to go to get a memorable photo — and in this case, how the pair fled instead of owning up to the damage. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
