Museum calls out 'rampant' social media photos after visitor trips onto artwork

Florence’s Uffizi Gallery, home to some of Italy’s most treasured masterpieces, plans to restrict how visitors take photographs, following an incident in which an eighteenth-century painting was reportedly ripped.

The museum said the surface of the painting was “bumped” by visitor, who was attempting to “make a meme” in front of the artwork.

Security camera footage of the incident, which was aired by Italian TV, shows a visitor to the museum stumbling backwards into a 300-year-old painting, a portrait of Tuscan prince Ferdinando de’ Medici painted by Anton Domenico Gabbiani in 1712.

The director of the Uffizi, Simone Verde, said it was a widespread problem and is now considering banning selfies and photographs in front of artworks.

“Today a tourist wanting to make a meme in front of a painting, backing away in a pose like the prince of the Medici portrayed, bumped the surface of the work,” Verde said in a statement on Saturday.

“The problem of visitors coming to museums to make memes or take selfies for social media is rampant.

“We will set very precise limits, preventing behaviour that is not compatible with the sense of our institutions and respect for cultural heritage.”

It is understood that police have been informed.

This is the latest in a series of incidents in which artworks have been damaged by photo-snapping visitors.

Earlier this month, CCTV footage showed a tourist trying to sit on a crystal-covered chair by artist Nicola Bolla for a photograph. It collapsed under his weight.

The video was footage released by Verona’s Palazzo Maffei, which said it had contacted the police after the people responsible fled the scene.

The museum described the work as “extremely fragile” but said it had since been repaired.