Three people were arrested by Dutch police on Thursday after environmental activists targeted the painting The Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer, the Mauritshuis Museum in The Hague and police have learned.
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Two people approached the painting and a third threw an unknown substance at it, but the work, protected under glass, was not damaged, the Mauritshuis said in a statement to AFP.
Pictures on social media showed activists wearing Just Stop Oil t-shirts.
This action follows other acts of vandalism in recent weeks. Environmental activists threw tomato soup at Van Gogh’s sunflowers at the National Gallery in London and smeared mashed potatoes on a painting by Claude Monet in Germany.
“Around 2 p.m., two people taped the earring of Girls with the Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer,” the Mauritshuis said in a statement to AFP.
“One person pressed their head against the glass-protected painting, and the other person pressed their hand against the wall the painting is hanging on. A third person threw an unknown substance at the painting,” the museum continued.
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“Our experts immediately inspected the painting. Luckily it wasn’t damaged.”
The painting will be exhibited again “as soon as possible”, the museum specified.
“Art cannot defend itself and for any reason try to damage it, we strongly condemn that,” added the Mauritshuis.
The police in The Hague announced on Twitter that they had arrested three people in a museum for “public violence against property”.
Dozens of people were gathered at the museum awaiting information about the incident while security guards prevented them from getting too close to other paintings, an AFP journalist noted.
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The entrance to the room where Girl with a Pearl Earring normally stands was blocked by a large oil painting reproduction, and a warden said it would likely be closed for the rest of the day.
Two police cars were parked in front of the museum while the investigation continued.