Portrait in Florence allegedly damaged by visitor taking a selfie

Danny FullbrookCulture reporterClaudio Giovannini/EPA-EFE/ShutterstockThe portray shall be returned to the exhibition when it’s restoredA 18th-century oil portray has allegedly been broken after a museum customer tripped whereas taking a selfie.Florence’s Uffizi Gallery stated a vacationer fell backwards whereas attempting to “make a meme in entrance” of a portrait of Ferdinando de’ Medici, Grand Prince of Tuscany, by Anton Domenico Gabbiani.The museum defined the injury might be repaired shortly however director Simone Verde warned restrictions on customer behaviour might be imposed sooner or later.He stated in a press release: “The issue of tourists coming to museums to make memes or take selfies for social media is rampant.”We are going to set very exact limits, stopping behaviour that isn’t appropriate with the sense of our establishments and respect for cultural heritage,” he added.The portrait was on show as a part of an exhibition known as Florence and Europe: Arts of the Eighteenth Century on the Uffizi.In accordance with the gallery the customer has been recognized by the police and reported to the judicial authorities.The exhibition, which was made up of about 150 artwork works, is now closed till 2 July following the incident. The portray shall be repaired within the interim so it’s prepared to return on show.The exhibition will then run, as initially deliberate, till 28 November.Earlier this yr at Palazzo Maffei, in Verona, a person seemingly slipped and fell on to a bejewelled chair by Italian artist Nicola Bolla.He had been taking photographs with a lady, pretending to take a seat on the chair. Museum director Vanessa Carlon stated: “Typically we lose our brains to take an image, and we do not take into consideration the implications.”In fact it was an accident, however these two folks left with out chatting with us – that is not an accident.”