With the video of a Taiwanese boy tripping and punching a hole through a £1m painting in a museum going viral, Jean Brown asks what museums should be doing to protect their art.
A young Taiwanese boy caused extensive damage to a valuable 17th century painting by Paolo Porpora after he accidentally tripped and put his hand through it while trying to break his fall.
The incident highlights an ongoing challenge faced by museums and galleries – keeping works of art accessible to the public, and protecting them at the same time. Curators and conservators are only too well aware of the risks, which can be deliberate, incidental or, as in this case, accidental. So what can we learn from this and what could be done differently?
Deliberate damage is probably the most difficult to manage, as was the case with the Leonardo da Vinci cartoon damaged by gunshot in the National Gallery in London in 1987 despite the painting being protected by a laminated plate-glass screen....Keep reading on The Conversation
A young Taiwanese boy caused extensive damage to a valuable 17th century painting by Paolo Porpora after he accidentally tripped and put his hand through it while trying to break his fall.
The incident highlights an ongoing challenge faced by museums and galleries – keeping works of art accessible to the public, and protecting them at the same time. Curators and conservators are only too well aware of the risks, which can be deliberate, incidental or, as in this case, accidental. So what can we learn from this and what could be done differently?
Deliberate damage is probably the most difficult to manage, as was the case with the Leonardo da Vinci cartoon damaged by gunshot in the National Gallery in London in 1987 despite the painting being protected by a laminated plate-glass screen....Keep reading on The Conversation