A 12-year-old Taiwanese boy lived out a slapstick nightmare at the weekend when he tripped at a museum and broke his fall with a 350-year-old painting, smashing a hole in the work of art valued at $1.5m.

THIS is one trip this 12-year-old will never forget.

It was supposed to be a lesson in Italian art, but instead this boy’s excursion to a local museum turned into a very costly lesson about life.

The boy was visiting The Face of Leonardo; Images of a Genius exhibition at the Huashan Creative Park in Taipei, Taiwan with his mother when he tripped over and punched a hole through a priceless artwork.

The 17th Century oil painting, Flowers, by Italian master Paolo Porpora is estimated to be about 350 years old and valued at around $A2.09 million.

Footage released by the organisers (and found on YouTube) show the boy, who is wearing shorts, trainers, a blue Puma T-shirt and holding a drink, walk pass the painting, then stumble over his own feet into the precious oil on canvas.

As he regains his balance he looks up at the painting, freezes, then looks around at other people in the room.

Shortly after a woman approaches the boy who is then quickly followed by the tour guide who leads the boy away.

One of the organisers of the exhibition, Sun Chi-hsuan, said the hole in the 200cm tall painting, which depicts sunflowers, roses, tulips and carnations, was estimated to be the size of a fist, Focus Taiwan reported.

Sun said the boy taking a guided tour with his mother when the incident occurred on Sunday.

The curator of the exhibition, Andrea Rossi, was said to be shocked over the damage.

It is not known how much it will cost to repair the hole.

Luckily for the boy and his family, they will not be asked to pay.

The exhibition organisers are expected to recoup the money for the restoration from its insurance company. They will also compensate the owner of the artwork.

The painting was on loan to the exhibition.

More than 50 authentic pieces of Italian art are contained in the The Face of Leonardo, Images of a Genius exhibition, which was temporarily closed on Monday morning in light of the incident.

According to The Guardian, The Web Gallery of Art, a database of European fine art, said Flowers was the only Porpora work that was signed and was painted around 1660.

Porpora was born in Naples but moved to Rome, where he worked for the Chigi family. He was considered to be a leading still life artist who produced baroque-style paintings, often of fruit and flowers.