Althouse: "In the tape, the 12-year-old was seen tripping over a rope barrier post while walking near the 17th century oil painting 'Flowers.'"

August 25, 2015

"In the tape, the 12-year-old was seen tripping over a rope barrier post while walking near the 17th century oil painting 'Flowers.'"

"As he stumbled toward the painting, he extended his arms to keep from falling, making contact with the artwork and leaving a hole the size of a fist."

31 comments:

Jim in St Louis said...: Poor kid. 12 y/o are always tripping over their feet, kinda clumsy at that age.

Art that reaches a certain vintage is bound to have adventures and I’d bet that after restoration this piece will be more popular due to the adventure that it had.; 8/25/15, 6:26 AM
Bob R said...: Yet another reason to avoid going on guided tours.

The headline is a bit misleading. He tripped over what looks like an ankle-high platform that has "trip hazard" written all over it. (We're setting up a new house for my 86-year-old father-in-law and I've become sensitive to these things.); 8/25/15, 6:28 AM
David Begley said...: What is he doing with a pop in his hand?; 8/25/15, 6:30 AM
Jim in St Louis said...: If there are more than one painting- are they called collectively "still lifes" or "still lives" ?; 8/25/15, 7:06 AM
SomeoneHasToSayIt said...: The kid's fat and bored. That's what I see there.; 8/25/15, 7:07 AM
Unknown said...: Apparently there have been questions raised about whether the artist and value of the painting are accurate. Smells a bit of insurance scam, although the boy would have had to have been in on it which seems odd (the stumble looks legit,); 8/25/15, 7:15 AM
Larry J said...: "I didn't do it. You didn't see me do it. You can't prove anything."

Takes another sip of his soda.

"There's a camera? Shit."; 8/25/15, 7:17 AM
Mark Caplan said...: The boy managed not to spill a drop of his precious soda.

The curator graciously dumped the whole problem into the insurance company's lap. However, you'd think the insurance company would have had a clause in its contract that prohibited eating and drinking in the exhibition space.; 8/25/15, 7:25 AM
Scott said...: "...the 200-centimeter tall painting is around 350 years old and valued at over NT$50 million (US$1.5 million)."

Would the owner get more as an insurance claim than he would if he were to sell it at auction?; 8/25/15, 7:30 AM
Sean Gleeson said...: The whole thing is weird. The exhibit was titled The Face of Leonardo, but the works seemed to be by... some assortment of Italians? But not Leonardo? The artist being cited in the news is Paolo Porpora (1617-1673), but the painting being shown is the work of Mario Nuzzi (1603-1673), neither of whom is anything like a contemporary of Leonardo (1452-1519). The stories claim the boy put a fist-sized hole in the canvas, but I have not seen any evidence of that. The angle of the video shows nothing, and I have seen no other photos of this hole. And his stumble really does not seem to have been forceful enough to put a hole through a canvas; canvas is tough stuff, and the kid barely bumped it. I'm sorry this painting was damaged (if it was damaged), but I cannot trust anything I'm reading about the incident.; 8/25/15, 7:33 AM
tim maguire said...: What is it with Asians and their inability to handle art? If it's not some Chinese kid spray-painting an Egyptian tomb, it's a Taiwanese museum setting up a trip line and letting some fat kid with a drink in his hand wander by unsupervised.; 8/25/15, 8:13 AM
Original Mike said...: That painting looks like something my grandmother would have hung in her house. I'm not mourning the loss.; 8/25/15, 8:19 AM
chickelit said...: He waddled away in his shorts, oblivious...; 8/25/15, 8:22 AM
Ambrose said...: A very similar thing happened on an old Full House episode - when John Stamos escorted a group of kids to an art museum. See, life does imitate art.; 8/25/15, 8:43 AM
Ann Althouse said...: If the paintings were valuable, why were beverage cups allowed? I also see an umbrella. A decent museum would forbid umbrellas.; 8/25/15, 9:20 AM
Etienne said...: It looks like his right hand (with the drink) braced against the painting, and then his left hand, fingers extended, went right through the painting.; 8/25/15, 9:42 AM
Wince said...: It reminds me of people who, for one reason or another, gravitate toward hazards, especially where the risk is someone else's.

I've observed this phenomenon hundreds of times across all ages, but I think kids are more susceptible to giving into the urge more than adults.

On the occasions when I've actually asked why they behave that way the response is usually to act highly insulted.

I believe it's a subconscious tendency and adults especially become very defensive when somebody else notices and points it out.; 8/25/15, 10:27 AM
jr565 said...: You stupid kid!; 8/25/15, 11:44 AM
jr565 said...: I once sat on the couch at a friends house not realizing that the blinds had blown on the couch. And when I sat on it I pulled down their curtains. The wife, in particular, was incensed for a week. I didnt' destroy expensive art however.; 8/25/15, 11:46 AM
Rusty said...: See. This is why we can't have nice things.; 8/25/15, 11:50 AM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: Shorts in a museum!; 8/25/15, 11:54 AM
CStanley said...: @ Scott -
The story I read was that some experts are questioning who the artist really was. As noted by commenter Sean Gleeson, it appears to be a painting by Mario Nuzzi, not Paolo Porpora. The Nuzzi painting in question had been offered twice at auction with no takers, and the appraised value is much less than the exhibit curators are claiming.

I have to agree the whole story is strange.; 8/25/15, 12:45 PM
traditionalguy said...: The Getty Museum guards would have stopped that kid.; 8/25/15, 1:07 PM
David said...: It's not the kid's fault. The museum set up the vulnerable display.; 8/25/15, 1:15 PM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: That, my friends, is how history works. Micro-history, but nevertheless...; 8/25/15, 1:21 PM
Joe said...: Curious, I did some searching. There are precious few images of Paolo Porpora's work, but plenty of Mario Nuzzi's work and that painting sure looks like a Nuzzi.; 8/25/15, 1:53 PM
Alexander said...: It's not the kid's fault. The museum set up the vulnerable display.

Victim blaming! The work was 'vulnerable' and so it deserved what happened to it, eh?! The aggressor 'couldn't help it'. Wow, just wow. I can't even.

#AllArtIsBeautiful #TakeBackTheCanvas; 8/25/15, 3:52 PM
The Godfather said...: I'm not surprised the kid stumbled. With that fuzzy blob over his head he probably couldn't see a thing.; 8/25/15, 4:00 PM
Unknown said...: Oops; 8/25/15, 5:07 PM
veni vidi vici said...: Fat, dumb, inappropriately dressed or the venue in shorts, and holding a soda.

These idiots will be running things someday while we're old and enfeebled. I'm not looking forward to the twilight of my life.; 8/25/15, 11:53 PM
veni vidi vici said...: "for the venue". Derp.; 8/25/15, 11:53 PM