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The woman appears on the photomarks, while a slash runs from her hair to the bottom of her face
The damage to an unresolved attack on a Johannes Aimer painting in the National Gallery was finally unveiled.
A photo of the 1968 attack suggests that the perpetrator tried to remove the face in the middle of the lady sitting in a virgin work of art.
In the photo, markings around the woman’s head appear, while a slash runs from her hair to the bottom of her face and drives between her eyes between her eyes.
At that time, the trustees of the gallery publicly stated that no canvas was removed and the loss of color was minimal, which led to a lack of press coverage.
On the other hand, they decided to publish photos of the damage in order to refuse to pay vandal and prevent future incidents, according to the art newspaper, which revealed the photo for the first time.
The culprit behind the attack was never identified.
The entirety of the woman’s head in the painting would have made it impossible to completely restore the work of art, which means that it would probably have been permanently exhibited.
The painting remains in the National Gallery and the damage is not detectable for the mere eye
The attack took place on March 22, 1968 in a Dutch cabinet room of the National Gallery in London.
A visitor noticed shortly afternoon damage to the painting, but assumed that it had already been reported.
Only 1 p.m. did a second visit to alert the staff about the attack, which caused art to be removed.
After the restoration work in the damaged area, the painting on April 11th returned in another room, just three weeks after the attack, but protected with Perspex.
Vermeer painted 40 works of art during his lifetime, and some have been lost over time or have damaged considerably.
Linked to a poster campaign
It is not known why the perpetrator attacks the lady sitting in a virgin, and the incident was not reported in the annual report of the gallery.
Tourality of the National Gallery believe that vandalism was associated with a poster campaign with the painting in 1968.
According to the art newspaper, Martin Davies, the then museum director, said his trustee: “I was worried that the service of the companion could see from his chair of only ten of the 25 pictures at one end of the room.
“The small number of visitors this morning was another disturbing factor; an important protection for the pictures is that many visitors should be in the rooms.”
The painting remains in the National Gallery and the damage is not detectable for the mere eye.
