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.
