Dating back to the 17th century, the insanely expensive oil painting is the only piece that Italian artist Paolo Porpora had ever signed.
Everyone has that one embarrassing childhood memory that people don’t let them live down for the rest of their lives.
It could be anything – calling your teacher “mom” in fourth grade, crying during an overnight field trip because you were homesick or, in this case of a young Taiwanese boy, tripping on your own feet and accidentally ruining a million-dollar oil painting.
A 12-year-old boy recently lived a toe-curling nightmare at the Face of Leonardo: Images of a Genius exhibition in Taipei, when he tripped in front of all the museum goers and used a 17th-century oil painting to break his fall. The unnamed boy was at the museum with his mother.
The art exhibition organizers even released a video (posted above) to show exactly how it all went down.
The 350-year-old piece of art, Flowers, was painted by Italian artist Paolo Porpora and is valued at $1.5 million. The 200-cm-tall piece, which depicts sunflowers, roses, tulips and carnations, is the only work signed by the artist. The artwork now supports a hole, approximately the size of a 12-year-old's fist, in a lower corner.
While the curator of the exhibition, Andrea Rossi, was extremely shocked when she found out about the incident, she claimed that the boy and his family won’t have to pay for the damages.
It’s not clear how much the restoration would cost, but it will be covered by the insurance.
The exhibition featured more than 50 authentic Italian paintings and was briefly closed following the incident.
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