AMSTERDAM, Oct 27 (Portal) – A climate activist taped his head to glass to cover the world-famous ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ painting at a museum in The Hague on Thursday, although the artwork was not damaged, gallery staff said.
A second activist taped his hand to the wall next to the 1665 work by Dutch master Johannes Vermeer, and an unidentified liquid was thrown, the Mauritshuis Museum said.
An unconfirmed video shared on social media showed two men near the painting, both wearing Just Stop Oil t-shirts.
“The police were notified and three people were arrested. The condition of the painting has been checked by our restorer. Fortunately, the glass-covered masterpiece was not damaged,” the museum said.
Earlier this month, activists from Just Stop Oil threw soup over Vincent van Gogh’s painting Sunflowers at London’s National Gallery. This painting was also shielded by glass.
In videos from the Dutch museum posted online on Thursday, one of the men says: “How do you feel when you see something beautiful and priceless seemingly destroyed before your eyes?”
“It’s the same feeling when you see the planet being destroyed,” he adds.
The two men in the video were taken away by police in more footage.
Dutch police said in a statement they had arrested three Belgian men in their 40s for damaging public property and were conducting a forensic investigation. You have been questioned.
A statement from Just Stop Oil said its activists were responsible and had thrown soup.
“The message is clear: if humanity does not stop using fossil fuels immediately, they will become extinct,” it said. “You would never soil an artwork that is not covered with protective glass.”
Dutch Junior Culture Minister Gunay Uslu said: “Everyone has the right to say something. But please: leave our common heritage alone. Attacks on defenseless works of art are not the way to go.”
reporting by Toby Sterling and Charlotte van Campenhout; writing by Anthony German; Edited by William Maclean, Andrew Heavens and Barbara Lewis
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