Two activists from the environmental organization Just Stop Oil attacked the iconic painting “Venus in the Mirror” by Diego Velázquez with hammers.
The attackers broke the protective glass that covered the Spanish painter’s canvas in the National Gallery in London.
As the gallery indicated in a tweet, the subjects used “what appeared to be emergency hammers.”
“The painting has been removed so that it can be examined by conservators,” the National Gallery said.
London’s Metropolitan Police said the two activists had been arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage.
Just Stop Oil named the couple as Hanan, 22, and Harrison, 20, and confirmed that emergency hammers were used to break the glass in the attack.
another attack
The Venus in the Mirror, a work that Velázquez completed between 1647 and 1650, already It had previously been vandalized by suffragette Mary Richardson in 1914.
Richardson made seven cuts with a knife in the painting causing damage to the canvas which was later repaired.
After the recent incident, Just Stop Oil said: “Women didn’t get the vote by voting, it’s time for deeds, not words. It’s time for Just Stop Oil.”
“Politics is failing us. It failed women in 1914 and it is failing us now. New oil and gas will kill millions. “If we love art, if we love life, if we love our families, we must simply stop the oil.”
This is not the first time that Just Stop Oil activists have attacked a National Gallery work.
In October 2022, two activists threw tomato soup to “The Sunflowers” by Van Gogh, a work from 1888.
“What is worth more: art or life? Is it worth more than food? “Is it worth more than justice?” one of the activists shouted after the attack.
The painting, estimated to be worth about $89 million, was undamaged due to its protective glass.
At the same time as the attack at the National Gallery on Monday, police said at least 100 Just Stop Oil protesters arrested after march in Whitehall, the area of central London that is the seat of the British government.
This is the latest in a series of protests held in recent days by the environmental organization in London to demand that the government end its dependence on oil and gas.
The organization carries out actions in museums, galleries and sporting events throughout the United Kingdom such as part of his campaign to denounce climate change.
Also as part of its strategy, it carries out blockades of London’s main streets during the busiest hours in the city.
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