The Mauritshuis museum in The Hague has announced that the painting is on display again, after further action by the “Just Stop Oil” collective.
The Girl with the Pearl Earringa famous painting by Johannes Vermeer, was put back in its place on Friday in a Dutch museum after being targeted by environmental activists the day before, without being damaged.
Three men of Belgian nationality, two aged 45 and one aged 42, stuck Thursday 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 similar elsewhere in Europe.
Activists taken into custody
They were immediately arrested. The prosecution said on Friday on Twitter that the three men remained in detention “at least for the weekend” for vandalism and open violence against property.
“We are pleased to say that at 3:30 p.m. ‘The Girl with a Pearl Earring’ was returned to its rightful place in the Mauritshuis by members of our staff,” the museum said in a statement.
“We are extremely grateful that The Girl with the Pearl Earring remained intact and returned to its place so quickly”, rejoiced the director of the museum, Martine Gosselink, quoted in the press release. No damage was discovered on the painting after being examined in the workshop of conservation of the Mauritshuis, the museum said.
Multiplication of similar acts
In a video of the incident posted on Twitter, we see two men dressed in t-shirts bearing the image of the “Just Stop Oil” collective. One sticks his hand on the wall next to the painting. The other sticks his head on the glass plate protecting the canvas and a third activist empties a tin can which seems to contain tomato sauce.
This action 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 by Van Gogh at the National Gallery in London and others smeared mashed potatoes on the glass protecting Millstones, a painting by Claude Monet, in Germany.