Three people of Belgian nationality, aged 45, 45 and 42, were arrested at the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague after the incident at the 1665 work, which was the subject of a bestselling novel and a film Hollywood, police said.

In a video of the incident posted on Twitter, we see two men dressed in t-shirts bearing the image of the "Just Stop Oil" collective.

One sticks his hand on the wall next to the painting.

The other sticks his head on the glass plate protecting the canvas and a third activist empties his neck and throws what appears to be tomato sauce on the board.

This action comes on the heels of other acts of vandalism in recent weeks.

Environmental activists threw tomato soup on the glass plate protecting Van Gogh's Sunflowers at the National Gallery in London and others smeared mashed potatoes on the glass protecting Meules, a painting by Claude Monet, in Germany.

"Art cannot defend itself and attempting to damage it for any reason is something we strongly condemn," the Mauritshuis said in a statement.

“One person stuck their head against the painting, which was protected by glass, and the other person stuck their hand against the wall where the painting hangs. A third person threw an unknown substance on the painting,” said told the museum.

The police monitor the surroundings of the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague where environmental activists stuck with strong glue on The Girl with a Pearl Earring, famous painting by Johannes Vermeer, on October 27, 2022 Phil Nijhuis ANP / AFP

“Our experts immediately inspected the painting. Fortunately, it was not damaged,” the museum said, adding that it would be put on display again “as soon as possible”.

"Beautiful and precious"

The incident happened around 2:00 p.m. (12:00 GMT) and the police quickly intervened.

Police in The Hague said on Twitter that they had arrested three people at a museum for "public violence against property".

The museum was open to the public on Thursday afternoon, but not the room where The Girl with a Pearl Earring sits.

Dumbfounded and disappointed visitors were forced to move on, turned away by security guards posted in front of the entrance blocked by a large reproduction of the painting, noted an AFP journalist.

One of the three men, visible in a video on Twitter, shouted "How are you feeling?"

sticking his hand to the wall.

"How do you feel when you see something beautiful and precious being presumably destroyed right before your eyes?" he said.

"This painting is protected by glass but the future of our children is not protected," he said.

Visitors shouted "Shame!", "Indecent!"

and "You're stupid!"

© 2022 AFP