An Austrian tourist who visited an art museum in northern Italy last week apologized for damaging a 200-year-old statue.
The man – who was traveling to celebrate his 50th birthday – posed with the plaster creation of the 19th century. It shows 25-year-old Pauline Bonaparte, an Italian duchess and imperial French princess, pictured staying on a bench.
The tourist sat at the foot of Bonaparte and mimicked her posture for a quick photo, keeping his neon sneakers on the tile floor, the New York Times reported.
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However, when it did rise up, video footage showed Bonaparte had lost some toes in the process, according to the Times.
When the tourist spent the rest of his day working, local authorities worked to track him down with visitor logs in the Gypsotheca Museum in Possagno. First, they contacted the wife of the man who left her contact information with the museum under its mandatory COVID-19 contact tracking rules.
CNN reported Wednesday that police found the woman burst into tears as she spoke to her about the incident.
In a letter to the president of the foundation overseeing the museum, part of which was posted on Facebook, the Austrian said he had not realized the toes were cut out, the Times reported.
“During the visit, I sat on the statue, not realizing the damage I was apparently causing,” he wrote.
“I’m asking you for information on what steps are needed on my part in this situation,” the man carried, “what is very unpleasant to me and why I apologize in the first instance in every way.”
Vittorio Sgarbi, the foundation’s president, responded in a statement: “I appreciate the civic feeling of this citizen, and I take note of his words of embarrassment for what happened.”
Sgarbi initially posted a plea to the police on Facebook and asked for assurance that the tourist’s actions would not go “without punishment” and an Italian court was expected to weigh whether to press charges.
The museum said in a Facebook post that it made a plan for the restoration of the statue, although there is some discrepancy about how much that is missing.
Bonaparte’s second husband, Camilo Borghese, commissioned the seminal sculpture of Napoleon Bonaparte’s sister, commissioned by Italian artist Antonio Canova in 1805. Canova presented the finished product – known as “Pauline Bonaparte as Venus Victrix” – in 1808.
Remarkably, the plaster model lasted less: During World War I, a shell broke through the roof of the museum, according to the Times.
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At the beginning of World War II, statues were temporarily moved to the Temple of Possagno, a Catholic church designed by Canova in the city where he was born.
The marble counterpart of Bonaparte’s plaster model currently resides in the Borghese Gallery in Rome.
