A 19-year-old from Texas hurled water at two famed centuries-old paintings and tore tapestries from the walls of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in a bizarre outburst, authorities and law enforcement sources said Tuesday.
The suspect, identified as Joshua Vavrin, appeared to be under the influence of an “unknown substance” and was handed over to police by his mother, according to sources.
The teen’s water-throwing outburst also targeted the 16th-century altarpiece Madonna and Child with Saints by Girolamo dai Libri, according to sources.
Vavrin allegedly splashed the 19th-century oil-on-canvas Princesse de Broglie by French portraitist Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres — described by the Met as a “masterpiece” — during a 4:50 p.m. rampage Monday inside the museum’s Fifth Avenue location in Manhattan, police and sources said.
He also doused the 16th-century Madonna and Child with Saints by Girolamo dai Libri, the sources added.
Altogether, Vavrin allegedly caused about $4,000 in damage to the artworks, according to sources.
During the rampage, he also tore two historic tapestries from the walls, sources said.
He is accused of inflicting roughly $1,000 in damage to each piece and has been charged with criminal mischief, police and sources said.
