Here’s What Happens When You Damage Priceless Art
When I was 16, my French classes were lucky enough to visit France. Upon arrival in Paris, we immediately went to the Louvre, but I was so exhausted by the change of time zones that I sat down and fell asleep. However, the location I chose was actually an ancient work of art. This is what would happen if I broke it.
This is a terrible scenario. You wander through a gallery of magnificent artwork only to stumble and accidentally punch a hole in a priceless painting. This is really happening. In fact, a12-year-old boy did just that with a 350-year-old painting by Paolo Porpora worth $ 1.5 million a couple of years ago . So the boy is in trouble? Does he owe money to the museum for the rest of his life?
According to Colin Quinn, director of claims department at AXA Art Americas Corporation , someone in this position usually goes free. Quinn tells Artie that art like this is always well insured, and since you are considered invited to the premises, the piece will be covered. Museums and galleries usually take reasonable steps to avoid such accidents, but it’s not the end of the world when they happen. An insurance representative comes to look at the damage, checks to see if it was intentional (usually by looking at CCTV footage), then gets an offer to repair the part.
However, they may ask you to write down your name, address, phone number and other information before leaving in case they need to contact you later. In addition, if you intentionally damage a piece, it will have a completely different result. You will be forced to pay for the repair or cover the full cost, and you could face criminal charges.
So if I broke that Egyptian stone thing that I dozed on in the Louvre – which, excuse me, looked like a bench in my exhaustion – I would probably be fine. I just need to live with the awkward memories of waking up to the crowd of museum goers staring at me.