German environmental activists who had their hands painted on one of the most well-known paintings in the world were taken into custody.
The Sistine Madonna, a masterpiece by Renaissance painter Raphael, was touched by Jakob Beyer, 28, and Maike Grunst, 21, in Dresden this morning.
The “Letzte Generation” (Last Generation) activists entered the Old Masters Picture Gallery, stepped over a barricade in front of the picture, and grabbed hold of the frame before releasing a banner.
While security encircled the two and police were summoned, other gallery visitors had to be asked to leave, according to Bild. The police ultimately put the couple into prison after removing their hands.
It is the most recent in a series of such demonstrations in which eco-activists have attached themselves to well-known works of art by painters like Botticelli and Van Gogh.
Guards were informed by Beyer and Grunst that the demonstration was held in support of activist Christian Bläul, 40, from Dresden, who attached his hands to a highway in Stockholm, Sweden.
After spending nine days in police detention, he was eventually found guilty and is now being imprisoned in a Swedish prison.
Sebastian Hecht from the Saxony ministry of tourism commented on the Dresden protest today and stated, “Thank goodness, there was no damage to the artwork itself, although there was damage to the frame.
It is something that will undoubtedly be a crime and result in inquiries since the frame itself is pretty expensive.
Grunst, a representative for Last Generation, said that she and Beyer were captivated to the Sistine Madonna because they believed that she encapsulated the global warming catastrophe.
Mary and Jesus, she remarked, are fearful of what is ahead. They anticipate Christ’s suffering and death on the cross.
“Climate collapse will likewise result in an equally inevitable death.” And everywhere else.”
There have been many demonstrations this summer in galleries and museums that have targeted well-known pieces of art.
Just Stop Oil protesters defaced John Constable’s The Hay Wain at the National Gallery with their own rendition that included double yellow lines, pollution, and a washing machine.
On July 4, two teenagers covered the renowned artwork in London with a counterfeit “undated” replica that included aeroplanes as a form of protest against UK oil and gas developments.
The two weren’t taken into custody for more than an hour.
The group said that their imaginative recreation of the magnificent 1821 painting, which displays a rural landscape on the River Stour in Suffolk, represents a nightmarish image that “illustrates how oil will devastate our environment.”
Experts and art historians have all expressed worry that the 19th-century masterpiece may have been irreparably damaged by the vandals, two Brighton University students who have previously participated in Just Stop Oil demonstrations.
At the Manchester Art Museum, a brave gallery employee even managed to quiet two irate eco-fanatics by telling them to “get off our paintings and go out.”
JMW Turner, an English Romantic painter, created Thomson’s Aeolian Harp in 1809; two men from the campaign organisation Just Stop Oil, both wearing orange t-shirts with the words “Just Stop Oil” inscribed in black on the fronts, each put a hand on each side of the frame.
The words “no fresh oil” were spray sprayed on the ground under a JMW Turner artwork in Manchester today.
An employee can be heard telling coworkers to contact 999 through a walkie-talkie in a video of the demonstration that was posted to Twitter.
Nevertheless, a female employee of the Manchester Art Gallery cuts the demonstrator off by declaring, “I’m not interested. Not at all. You have vandalised our property. I’m not interested in listening to a word you have to say.
Therefore, do show us some respect by remaining silent…
Let this be a peaceful demonstration.
A replica of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper was framed by activists from Just Stop Oil the next day at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.
Simon Bramwell, a co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, and fellow XR campaigner Caspar Hughes were among those engaged.
Jessica Agar, a 21-year-old art student from Hereford, Tristan Strange, a 40-year-old community organiser from Swindon, and Lucy Porter, a 47-year-old former teacher from Leeds, were also identified as three of the demonstrators by Just Stop Oil.
Security reacted immediately and ushered away people before attempting to get the activists off the artwork. After almost an hour, police showed there and detained them on suspicion of causing criminal damage.
Later, activists with Just Stop Oil staged similar demonstrations at art galleries in Glasgow, Manchester, and London.
At the same month, three environmental activists affixed themselves to the glass covering of the well-known Botticelli artwork Primavera in the Florence Gallery.
Instead of guards who only observed during the rallies in Britain, the Italian security was commended for tearing the demonstrators’ hands off the expensive artwork.
Soon after they started their flimsy protest at the Uffizi Gallery, the impatient security guard went up to the young couple and withdrew their superglued hands off the Renaissance masterpiece.