Photo: Kristian Buus/In Pictures/Getty
Climate change protestors glued themselves to a copy of Leonardo da Vinci’sThe Last Supperat London’sRoyal Academy of Artson Tuesday.
Metropolitan Police told AP that the protestors — made up of three men and two women — were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage. The Royal Academy said police were “called upon the protestors' request.”
The painting is a 500-year-old copy of da Vinci’s famous artwork and has been attributed to da Vinci’s student Giampietrino and painter Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio,NPRreported.
“The painting of The Last Supper is unharmed, however, the frame has been damaged with glue and solvent stains,” the Royal Academy said in a statement to PEOPLE on Wednesday. “The spray paint below the painting has been removed.”
“The Collection Gallery at the Royal Academy of Arts will be open to the public today, however our conservators will continue to work on the frame, so some areas of the gallery will be roped off,” they added.
Just Stop Oil did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Kristian Buus/In Pictures via Getty
The activist group said they had “disrupted a major art institution in an act of civil resistance,” in a statement on theirwebsite. In the message, members asked for additional policies to curb climate change.
“We will stop disrupting art institutions as soon as the government makes a meaningful statement to do so,” she continued. “Until then, the disruption will continue so that young people know we are doing all we can for them. There is nothing I would rather be doing.”
Just Stop Oil is behind other recent protests. On Monday, activists from the group glued themselves to the frame of John Constable’sThe Hay Wainin London’s National Gallery, AP reported.
At the protest, two activists covered the 1821 painting with large sheets of paper before gluing themselves to the frame. The duo was later arrested.
According to the group’sstatementon the demonstration, the sheets of paper showed a “reimagined version carries a nightmare scene that demonstrates how oil will destroy our countryside.”
On June 30, protestors from Just Stop Oil glued themselves to a Vincent Van Gogh painting at London’s Courtauld Gallery.
“As a kid I used to love this painting. I still love this painting, but I love my friends and family more, I love nature more. I value the future survival of my generation more highly than my public reputation,” protestor Louis McKechnie, 21, said in astatement.
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Just Stop Oil activists have also conducted protests at theGlasgow Art Galleryand theManchester Art Gallery.
In addition to the disruptions in art galleries, six more activists from Just Stop Oil were arrested following a protest during a Formula 1 race at the Silverstone Circuit in England,BBCreported.
source: people.com
