A 17th-century painting at Florence's Uffizi Gallery was damaged by a visitor who stumbled into the artwork while posing for a photo. 

The Italian museum confirmed Monday the incident, which took place Saturday, in a statement to CNN, noting that the painting is a portrait of Tuscan Prince Ferdinando de' Medici, created in the late 1600s by Anton Domenico Gabbiani.

In surveillance footage made available by local media, the man is seen posing before the oil painting, leaning backward and quickly pulling away after realizing he came into contact with it.

Later photos published revealed a small tear near the nobleman's ankle in the artwork.

The unidentified visitor was reported to local authorities following the incident. He faced charges of damaging cultural heritage, according to the New York Post.

Meanwhile, the damaged painting was taken off display for restoration. The museum described the rip as minor and expects the artwork to return to public view shortly. However, local media have reported that the exhibition has been suspended until July 2.

Simone Verde, director of the gallery, condemned to CNN "the problem of visitors who come to museums to make memes or take selfies for social media."

"We will set very precise limits, preventing behaviors that are not compatible with the sense of our institutions and respect for cultural heritage," he added.

This is not an isolated incident. In recent weeks, there have been several reports of tourists causing damage to artworks at museums. 

Earlier this month, one man crashed a delicate chair, adorned with thousands of Swarovski crystals, after sitting on it to take a photo. He and his female companion fled the scene.

"They ignored every rule of respect for art and cultural heritage," management at Verona's Palazzo Maffei said.

Back in April, a child caused damage to a large-scale Mark Rothko painting, valued in the tens of millions of dollars, during a visit to a museum in the Netherlands.