He later said, "After I had been at work for some time I realised that I was much influenced subconsciously by Michelangelo's walls in the staircase room of the Medicean Library in Florence.

He achieved just the kind of feeling I'm after ..."[2] The murals were eventually withheld from installation at the restaurant, reportedly because Rothko did not think it was an appropriate setting for the works.

[3] The perpetrator told the BBC "I'm not a vandal" and compared himself with surrealist artist Marcel Duchamp, adding "Art allows us to take what someone's done and put a new message on it."

Talking about "yellowism" Judge Chapple added that it was "wholly and utterly unacceptable to promote it by damaging a work of art" which he called a "gift to the nation".

[1] It was estimated that restoration of the painting might take up to 18 months to complete, as the many layers applied by Rothko would have to be replicated individually.