Selfie Mishap Damages 18th-Century Portrait at Uffizi Gallery

In a surprising incident at Florence's Uffizi Gallery, an 18th-century oil portrait suffered damage after a tourist lost their balance while trying to capture a selfie.

The gallery confirmed that the artwork, a depiction of Ferdinando de' Medici by Anton Domenico Gabbiani, was injured when the visitor attempted to "make a meme in front" of it. The gallery's director, Simone Verde, stated that repairs could be handled quickly, yet he warned about the potential for new restrictions on visitor behavior due to the growing trend of posing with artworks for social media. Verde expressed concern about visitors' priorities, saying, “The problem of visitors coming to museums to make memes or take selfies for social media is rampant.”

The portrait was part of the exhibition, Florence and Europe: Arts of the Eighteenth Century, which has temporarily closed until 2 July as the painting undergoes restoration. Subsequently, the exhibition will continue until its planned end date of 28 November. The involved visitor has been identified and reported to authorities. This incident echoes a previous mishap at Palazzo Maffei in Verona, where a man fell onto an art piece while posing for pictures. The museum director, Vanessa Carlon, remarked on the pitfalls of prioritizing social media over respect for art.