Meme-Making Uffizi Patron Damages Three-Hundred-Year-Old Portrait
92June 26, 2025
A visitor tothe Uffiziin Florence accidentally tore the canvas of an eighteenth-century portrait after stumbling into it while posing for a humorous photo that he intended to turn into a meme. The guest was attempting to mimic the pose of Tuscan prince Ferdinando de’ Medici in a 1712 work by Italian Baroque painterAnton Domenico Gabbianiwhen he tripped over a low platform jutting out from the wall, where it had been installed to keep visitors at a respectful distance from the artworks hanging above. The guilty party was collared by security and reported to Florence judicial authorities. According to a statement from museum director Simone Verde, he will be prosecuted.
The injury to the canvas—a small rip where the man’s hand landed—was deemed minimal, and the portrait is expected to go back on view shortly in the newly opened exhibition “Florence and Europe: Arts of the Eighteenth Century,” in which it had originally appeared. The exhibit, which includes work by such artists as Canaletto, Goya, and Tiepolo, is closed until July 2, while the Gabbiani painting is being repaired.
The unfortunate incident comes shortly after a man smashed an artwork by Nicola Bolla in a Verona, Italy, museum while pretending to sit upon the crystal-covered chair for a photo. The Uffizi is considering limiting personal photographic opportunities within the museum’s walls. “The problem of visitors coming to museums to make memes or take selfies for social media is rampant,” said Verde in a statement. “We will set very precise limits, preventing behavior that is not compatible with the sense of our institutions and respect for cultural heritage.”
A museum workers’ trade union told the London Times that the platform installed beneath the painting was at least partly to blame for the incident. “Visitors are looking at the paintings, not at the ground. Those platforms are unsuitable and too dark,” staff representative Silvia Barlacchi told the publication. The union had earlier brought up the risks associated with the protective platforms after another visitor tripped over one, causing no damage.