John Constable painting in National Gallery vandalised in United Kingdom fathers' rights protest

LONDON (AFP).- John Constable's masterpiece "The Hay Wain" was attacked in Britain's National Gallery on Friday by a protester believed to be linked to the campaign group Fathers4Justice. A man was arrested at the prestigious gallery after gluing a 10-centimetre (four-inch) photograph of a young boy to the 1821 landscape. The National Gallery said no lasting damage had been done to the painting, which is one of Britain's best-known works of art.
Fathers4Justice released a statement from a man named as Paul Manning who said a custody battle with his former partner had forced him to take "drastic action". The British group, which campaigns for fathers' fair access to their children following separation from the mother, also released photographs of Manning holding an image of his son, with the word HELP scrawled on it. A second photo showed the image glued to the famous canvas. The attack came as a Fathers4Justice campaigner appeared in court accused of vandalising a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II in London's Westminster Abbey two weeks ago. Fathers4Justice had called for dads to take "independent weekly direct action", saying it was abandoning a five-year "attempted engagement with the political establishment". London's Metropolitan Police said a 57-year-old man was in police custody after being arrested shortly after 1 pm (1200 GMT).
A spokeswoman for the National Gallery said the painting was already back on display. "Conservation staff were on the scene very rapidly and the painting was removed for treatment," she said. "No damage to Constable's original paint occurred and there is no lasting damage to the painting." Set up in 2001, Fathers4Justice have gained a reputation over the years for headline-grabbing stunts. Their activists have scaled buildings such as Buckingham Palace dressed as superheroes, and in 2004 they sparked a major security alert at the British parliament when they pelted then-prime minister Tony Blair with flour as he was speaking. A spokeswoman for Fathers4Justice said the group was now encouraging fathers to write "help" or place pictures of their children in "significant places where they are visible to the world". "We can no longer stem the tide of desperation and anger of fathers who have had their families destroyed and their hopes betrayed by a government that promised equal parenting but only delivered desperation," she said.

Fathers4Justice released a statement from a man named as Paul Manning who said a custody battle with his former partner had forced him to take "drastic action". Photo: Fathers4Justice.

© 1994-2013 Agence France-Presse
More Information: http://artdaily.com/news/62337/John-Constable-painting-in-National-Gallery-vandalised-in-United-Kingdom-fathers--rights-protest#.UdBziG0tpI0[/url] Copyright © artdaily.org

Investigators analyse ashes taken from the house of one of the suspects as Dutch heist paintings feared burnt!

BUCHAREST (AFP).- Investigators are analysing ashes found in the house of a Romanian suspect charged for the spectacular Dutch museum heist, judicial sources said Wednesday, raising fears that the seven stolen masterpieces may have been burnt. "Tests are underway, they will take some time," Gabriela Neagu, a spokeswoman for the Romanian prosecutor's office, told AFP. "The ash tests are a stage in the ongoing probe, investigators have to take every hypothesis into account", she added. Investigators fear that the suspects may have set fire to their haul after realising that they could not sell the paintings, which included works by Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet and Henri Matisse. The ashes were taken from the house of Olga Dogaru, mother of one of the suspects and herself charged with "complicity to theft." Her son's lawyer, Doina Lupu, told AFP the tests "were inconclusive" so far. Dogaru was arrested in March after her house in eastern Romania was thoroughly searched. An empty suitcase which had presumably served to store the stolen paintings was unearthed during the operation. Seven Romanians, including Dogaru, have been charged in connection with the theft of the paintings from Rotterdam's Kunsthal museum on October 16. Experts have estimated their value at more than 100 million euros ($130 million). The heist gripped the Netherlands and the art world as police struggled to solve the crime, despite putting 25 officers on the case. The works stolen include Picasso's "Tete d'Arlequin"(pictured above), Monet's "Waterloo Bridge" and Lucian Freud's "Woman with Eyes Closed".

© 1994-2013 Agence France-Presse
More Information: http://artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=62908#.UaoQkpyg0cs[/url] Copyright © artdaily.org