(The Hague) Two environmental activists were sentenced on Wednesday to two months in prison, one of which was suspended, for attacking The girl with the pearla famous painting by Johannes Vermeer on display in the Netherlands, Dutch media reported.
Posted at 3:32 p.m.
Three men of Belgian nationality, two 45 years old and one 42, had glued themselves last week with strong glue on the glass protecting the work of 1665, at the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, in the wake of other acts of vandalism committed elsewhere in Europe.
No damage was discovered to the painting, the museum said. But the court in The Hague acknowledged that the frame and back plate were damaged and deemed the act “shocking” for many people, Dutch news agency ANP reported.
“Anyone can imagine the fragility of such a painting and the fact that it could have been lost if it had gone wrong,” said a judge, quoted by the ANP.
The public prosecutor had requested four months in prison, two of which were suspended, against the suspect Wouter M. for sticking his head on the window. He claimed to have carefully investigated the dangers of his act, according to the ANP.
Prosecutors had also requested four months, two of which were suspended, against the second suspect Pieter G., who filmed the action. He denies having been aware of the images he was going to take, reported the ANP.
The third activist, who emptied a can that appeared to contain tomato sauce, will be tried on Friday, according to the ANP.
The action in the Netherlands came on the heels of other acts of vandalism in recent weeks.
Environmental activists thus threw tomato soup on the glass plate protecting the Sunflowers of Van Gogh at the National Gallery in London and others smeared mashed potatoes on the glass protecting the grinding wheelsa painting by Claude Monet, in Germany.