The 'Girl with the Pearl' painting by Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer returned to the Mauritshuis Museum in The Hague on Friday afternoon after being targeted by climate activists the day before.
The frame was slightly damaged, but the painting itself was untouched.
” We are extremely grateful that the painting is intact and back so quickly, so that visitors from all over the world can admire it again,” the museum's director, Martine Gosselink, commented in relief.
On Thursday, three Belgian activists from the 'Just Stop Oil' collective targeted the painting in a protest against fossil fuels. One of the three stuck his head on the painting's protective glass plate, while another poured what appeared to be tomato sauce onto his neck and sprayed the painting with it.
Another activist then addressed the crowd, asking them how they felt when something beautiful and precious was destroyed before their eyes.
"This painting is protected by glass, but our children’s future is not,” the man concluded.
The work was later taken to the Mauritshuis restoration workshop, where an expert assessment concluded that it had not been damaged.
The three activists, aged 42 and 45, were arrested on Thursday by Dutch police.
