A visit to an art gallery spoilt by photographers

SIR – The high cost of museums’ and galleries’ reproduction rights to scholars (Letters, July 27) is a problem, but the solution is not a photographic free-for-all within these places.

Museums, like concert halls and theatres, require certain standards of behaviour from their visitors if they are to do justice to the art they offer. Taking photographs in galleries is antisocial and often poses a threat to the work. Galleries serve a precious purpose – to enable people to look at and think about unique works of art first-hand – and the quality of engagement must be maintained.

I have seen a party of students bunched in front of a Rembrandt painting for a group photograph, with one student’s elbow and another’s backpack denting the canvas. I have seen a man stick his head through the space between the arm and the body of a classical sculpture for a photograph, and have seen women disporting themselves over sculptures – even in cathedrals – for the camera.

Museums are right to ban photography. They could easily waive reproduction charges to bona fide scholarly productions. Michael Daley

Director, Artwatch UK Barnet, Hertfordshire