A teenage tourist is facing charges for allegedly vandalizing centuries-old artworks and tearing tapestries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Authorities said 19-year-old Joshua Vaurin hurled water at the 19th century French oil painting The Princess de Broglie by French portraitist Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres—described as a “masterpiece’’ by the Met’s online catalog—around 4:30 p.m. on Monday, November 3. Vaurin’s misguided museum tour then moved on to the 16th-century Italian altarpiece Madonna and Child with Saints by Girolamo dai Libri, which was also splashed with water, before ending with him ripping two tapestries. He was taken into custody shortly afterward, investigators said, adding that no injuries were reported.
Vaurin, who was staying at a Times Square hotel, did not give a motive for the vandalism. The New York Post reported that he appeared to be under the influence of an “unknown substance, and was turned over to the police by his mother. He was taken to the hospital before being arraigned on criminal mischief charges,” police said.
The Princess de Broglie, a highlight of the Met’s European Paintings collection, was among the last commissions of Neoclassical French artist Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. The painting is celebrated for its seamless brushwork, which imparts a lifelike luminosity to her blue satin and lace gown, offset by jewels of pearl and gold. Ingres was commissioned to paint the portrait by the sitter’s husband Albert de Broglie a few years into their brief marriage; Joséphine-Éléonore-Marie-Pauline de Galard de Brassac de Béarn died from tuberculosis soon after the painting was completed.
The Met said in a statement that the damage was minor and that repairs are expected to cost around $1,000.
