Italian police have arrested a man suspected of setting fire to the Michelangelo Pistoletto Venus of the rags settling in Naples.
The suspect was identified as a 32-year-old homeless man by CNN. According to New York Times, he was found in a soup kitchen after investigators reviewed security footage. Artnet News contacted Italian police for more information, but did not hear back at press time.
The work juxtaposes a statue of the Roman goddess Venus with a pile of rags and aims to provide commentary on consumerism and the degradation of society.
The installation was created in 1967 and several versions of it are exhibited in museums around the world, but the massive new version had just been inaugurated two weeks ago in Naples’ Piazza del Municipio, in the center of the city.
The installation titled ‘Venus of the Rags’ by Italian artist Michelangelo Pistoletto is pictured burning after a suspected arson attack in Naples. Photo courtesy of ANSA/AFP/Getty Images
The fire tore through the rags that make up part of the structure and melted the polyurethane statue of Venus and left only the metal frame.
Enza Amato, President of the Naples City Council, said in a press release translated from Italian that “setting fire to a work of art is a very serious act which must be strongly condemned”.
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