Tourist's 19th-Century Statue Photo-Op Goes Horribly Wrong

It wasn’t the kind of snap he was hoping for.

A tourist posing for a photograph ended up accidentally breaking the toes off a 19th-century sculpture by Italian artist Antonio Canova.

Surveillance footage shows the unidentified man from Austria leaning against Canova’s plaster model of Pauline Bonaparte, the sister of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, in the Museo Canova in Possagno, Italy, on Friday.

The tourist looked at the damage and then walked off.

Check out the video here:

The 50-year-old man later apologized for the damage he’d caused after a video of the incident went viral and he saw coverage of it in the Austrian media.

“It was irresponsible behavior on my part,” he wrote in a letter to the museum, according to its Facebook page.

The museum in Possagno is dedicated to the works of Canova, who died in 1822. The marble version of Canova’s plaster statue of Bonaparte sits in the Galleria Borghese in Rome:

It’s unclear if the tourist will be charged with a criminal offense.

Museum officials expressed hope, however, that they would be able to successfully repair the damage, given how the broken toes were left in situ on the floor.

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

Related...

Woman Caught On Camera Stealing Ring From Corpse At Funeral Home

Pub Staff Swear This Freaky Footage Proves Their Bar Is Haunted

Doctor Saves Dog In Heart-Pounding Elevator Rescue Video

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.