Tourist After Perfect Photo Breaks Toes of Sculpture

So it turns out the reclining lady had feet of clay.

I'm surprised works that fragile are displayed in such a way that tourists can go sit on them. There's no cure for stupid, and few things can compete with tourists in the stupidity stakes.
 
Luckily, the original sculpture of Venus Victrix is housed in a different museum:

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Still, these old casts can be stunning works of art in and of themselves. Most museums and art schools around the start of the last century had collections of such casts. With the onset of abstraction, the museum directors and art school professors imagined such works to be dated relics of an outdated art. Many of such casts were intentionally destroyed. The Pittsburgh Museum retains a large collection of such casts. Walking through the gallery is like walking through an art history book. In many ways, these casts are a greater form of reproduction of works of art than the photographs that we all know art from.
 
Ouch! I bet that hurt.

I cannot absentmindedly cross the red line in a museum without feeling like I'd drawn a moustache on the Mona lisa. Actually, while in the WC in the National Gallery (London) I was tempted to sign a urinal, R Mutt, but alas, not having anything to undo the nuts and screws (I was a tourist), it wouldn't have been very authentic. Not my better ideas. I can highly recommend the toilets though. Pristine. Like they are never used.
 
Surely I wouldn't have been the first to have had the idea when confronted with a museum or gallery urinal?

Wouldn't it be surprising if the museums and galleries throughout world experienced a sudden spate in "copy cat vandalism." Who wouldn't wish to attain that kind of influence?

"Yes, he was very influential. He took art out of the galleries and straight into the WC."
 
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