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Boy trips in museum, damages $1.5M painting

By T.K. Randall
August 25, 2015 · Comment icon 29 comments

The boy's blunder was caught on CCTV. Image Credit: YouTube / 'Face of Leonardo' / Marco Bass
A 12-year-old from Taiwan ended up putting his hand through a priceless Paolo Porpora painting.
The cringe-worthy incident, which wouldn't have looked out of place in a Mr Bean skit, saw the unsuspecting 12-year-old catching his foot and falling on to the 17th century artwork.

CCTV footage of the blunder, which was later released online by the exhibition's organizers, shows the boy anxiously looking around in disbelief after realizing what he had just done.

Fortunately however the painting, which is valued at $1.5M, was insured and the organizers have confirmed that they won't be charging the boy's family for its restoration costs.
The 12-year-old joins a growing list of people who have accidentally damaged priceless museum pieces over the years. In 2006 for instance a man visiting the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge tripped over his own shoelaces and managed to smash three 300-year-old Chinese vases.

Perhaps most famous of all however was the blunder of casino mogul Steve Wynn who accidentally elbowed a 1932 Picasso masterpiece that ended up being sold for a record $155 milion.



Source: The Guardian | Comments (29)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #20 Posted by MissJatti 9 years ago
It seems like the boy did this on purpose, first he noticed that he had to go around the barrier to go past the painting, then he looks left to make sure no one is looking at him, and after the incident he was marched back with his hand still on the drink and his other hand in his pocket like nothing has happened.
Comment icon #21 Posted by Vincennes 9 years ago
Looking at the vid I`m in the opinion that the idiot did that on purpose. I'm so glad that you said that ! That's the reason that I wanted to read the comments on this article to see if anyone else felt the same way I did. It seems like a perfect 12 year old stunt to me. His body and arms are stretched way to forward. If you trip, your body is headed down and the arms would naturally go toward the floor to protect yourself from the fall. If there was any type of respect in that pea brain, avoiding the painting should have increased that natural response not to plow into it. That little fellow ... [More]
Comment icon #22 Posted by toast 9 years ago
I'm so glad that you said that ! That's the reason that I wanted to read the comments on this article to see if anyone else felt the same way I did. It seems like a perfect 12 year old stunt to me. His body and arms are stretched way to forward. If you trip, your body is headed down and the arms would naturally go toward the floor to protect yourself from the fall. If there was any type of respect in that pea brain, avoiding the painting should have increased that natural response not to plow into it. That little fellow should have been taken by his ear right to the police station. Exactly. An... [More]
Comment icon #23 Posted by Nnicolette 9 years ago
HILARIOUS! They could always give it to the old lady who restored the "Ecce Homo". I'm sure she'll think of something. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecce_Homo_%28El%C3%ADas_Garc%C3%ADa_Mart%C3%ADnez%29 Is that real? should be a crime
Comment icon #24 Posted by lilnat89 9 years ago
bit of a flimsy barrier to protect a $1.5 million painting
Comment icon #25 Posted by Taun 9 years ago
Is that real? should be a crime According to the wiki article, the church actually made a tidy sum off of tourists wanting to see "potato Jesus"...
Comment icon #26 Posted by atomk12 9 years ago
It's a good thing that the painting was insured with sheople insurance to cover just this sort of idiotic occurrence. And the Lord said "Go Forth and Fill up the Earth", but I don't think he meant whats being bread now.
Comment icon #27 Posted by lilnat89 9 years ago
Looking at the vid I`m in the opinion that the idiot did that on purpose. . Hahaha Mr bean also came to my mind when I read this
Comment icon #28 Posted by alibongo 9 years ago
A "priceless painting" valued at $1.5? Can't put a price on something like that!
Comment icon #29 Posted by pixiii 9 years ago
Keep clumsy kids away from 1.5M pieces of artwork is all I can say hahaha!!


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