Just Stop Oil eco-zealot who glued himself to the frame of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper at the Royal Academy appear in court

  • Caspar Hughes, 51, has denied causing £180 worth of damage to the frame
  • He appeared at a hearing wearing a tweed blazer, dark blue shirt and jeans 
  • Last Supper painting was a copy made by one of Leonardo da Vinci's pupils

By Rory Tingle, Home Affairs Correspondent For Mailonline

Published: | Updated:

Caspar Hughes, 51, walked into Westminster Magistrates court for a case management hearing today wearing a tweed blazer, dark blue shirt and jeans

Caspar Hughes, 51, walked into Westminster Magistrates court for a case management hearing today wearing a tweed blazer, dark blue shirt and jeans

A ‘Just Stop Oil’ eco-zealot who glued himself to the frame of a copy of Leonardo Da Vinci’s ‘The Last Supper’ appeared in court today.

The words ‘No New Oil’ were spray-painted in white letters onto the red plinth under the vast painting at the Royal Academy (RA) in central London on July 5.

Caspar Hughes, 51, walked into Westminster Magistrates court for a case management hearing wearing a tweed blazer, dark blue shirt and jeans.

He had denied causing £180 worth of damage to the frame when he appeared in court last month with Extinction Rebellion co-founder Simon Bramwell, 50.

Jessica Agar, 22, ex-teacher Lucy Porter, 47, and community organiser Tristan Strange, 40, are yet to appear in court.

Deputy district Judge Jodie Mittell said ‘What I have suggested is that the prosecution should do everything they need to do by November 11, give you any body worn footage they want to show to the court, so dealing with evidence and disclosure by November 11.’

Bramwell, of Wokingham, Berks, Hughes, of Exeter, Agar, of Hereford, Porter, of Leeds, and Strange of Swindon, will stand trial at City of London Magistrates Court on 5 and 6 December.

The charge alleges that without lawful excuse they ‘damaged the frame to a copy of “The Last Supper” to the value of £180 belonging to The Royal Academy of Art intending to destroy or damage such property or being reckless as to whether such property would be destroyed or damaged.’

Leonardo da Vinci created The Last Supper between 1492 and 1497-48, and the RA’s full-size copy of it was painted by one or more of his pupils.

The words ¿No New Oil¿ were spray-painted in white letters onto the red plinth under the vast painting at the Royal Academy (RA) in central London on July 5

The words ‘No New Oil’ were spray-painted in white letters onto the red plinth under the vast painting at the Royal Academy (RA) in central London on July 5

The RA copy - which is attributed to Giampietrino and Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio - is believed to be the most accurate record of the original and was painted in around 1515-20.

The oil on canvas painting is about 3020mm x 7850mm, which makes it slightly smaller than the original.

During the summer JSO activists attached themselves to a 19th-century landscape by Horatio McCulloch called My Heart’s In The Highlands which hangs in Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.

They also glued themselves to Vincent Van Gogh’s 1889 work Peach Trees in Blossom at The Courtauld gallery in London.

Arrests were also made after two activists glued themselves onto the frame of John Constable’s the Hay Wain at the National Gallery on Monday and covered it with a reimagined scene of the destruction that climate change could cause to the landscape.

The campaigners are calling for the Government to halt new oil and gas licences in the UK. 

LondonExtinction RebellionJust Stop Oil

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