Watch: Climate activists target 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' artwork at Dutch museum

Climate activists glued themselves to Johannes Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring" at a Dutch museum on Thursday in the latest stunt targeting famous artworks, but the painting was undamaged.

Three men were arrested after the attack at The Hague's Mauritshuis museum on the 1665 masterpiece which has inspired a bestselling novel and a Hollywood film.

The trio were Belgian, one 42-year-old and two 45-year-olds. "They remain in custody and are being questioned," The Hague police said.

Social media images showed a man wearing a "Just Stop Oil" T-shirt gluing his head to the painting, while another glued his hand to the wall and a third emptied out a tin of what appeared to be tomato soup.

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The stunt comes after activists threw soup at Vincent van Gogh's "Sunflowers" at the National Gallery in London on October 14 and smeared mashed potato over a Claude Monet painting in Germany.

"Art is defenceless and we strongly condemn trying to damage it for whichever cause," the Mauritshuis said in a statement to AFP.