Guilty plea in museum attack
A homeless man pleaded guilty Friday to attacking a Joshua Reynolds painting with a hammer in London’s National Portrait Gallery.
Mark Paton, 44, was arrested Wednesday after repeatedly hitting the $3.4-million portrait of the 18th century diarist and lexicographer Samuel Johnson. He admitted criminal damage and possession of a hammer with intent to cause criminal damage during a hearing at City of Westminster Magistrates Court.
District Judge Quentin Purdy ordered Paton to undergo psychiatric tests before sentencing.
Reynolds was one of Britain’s leading society painters of the 18th century. His subjects included such notables as Johnson, political philosopher Edmund Burke, actor David Garrick and Omai, a Polynesian prince who became a sensation in London society when he visited England in 1774.
The gallery said it was confident the painting could be repaired.
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