Not only was renowned British street artist Banksy alive, and presumably well, following rumors he was arrested, but his latest mural at Bristol was found vandalized Tuesday, less than 24 hours after first being painted.

Banksy executed the mural Monday on a building at Hanover Place near the city's docks. In an homage to Johannes Vermeer, a Dutch artist, the mural was a take-off of Vermeer's iconic Girl with a Pearl Earring. Befitting Banksy's whimsical touch, the earring on his giant mural actually was the building's alarm box.

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Soon after the mural appeared, vandals doused it with black paint covering the lower part of the woman's face.

Banksy's latest effort was far from the first to be defaced by impromptu art vandals/critics.

The anonymous street painter's Mild Mild West mural at Stokes Croft, Bristol, was covered with red paint in 2009. It's one of his most famous murals and now is protected by clear plastic. His Hanging Man mural at Park Street also was damaged with blue paint in 2009 and later restored.

Another famously vandalized work, a police sharpshooter about to be disturbed by a boy behind him busting a paper bag, wasn't so fortunate. It was destroyed beyond reclamation by black paint.

Reportedly titled "Girl with a Pierced Eardrum," the Vermeer homage was Banksy's first work to appear since April when his Mobile Lovers showed up on a Clement Street doorway. A dispute sprung up over that work's ownership. Bristol City Council members said the city owned it since it appeared on land they owned.

Banksy settled the dispute, saying he gave the work to the Broad Plain Boys Club. The club then sold the work for about $650,000 to a private collector.

The appearance of "Girl with a Pierced Eardrum" came coincidentally, or not, on the heels of reports the secretive artist had been arrested and identified by London Police. The report said he had been arrested on suspicion of counterfeiting and vandalism among other charges and outed him as Paul Homer of Liverpool.

However, the elusive Bristol-based Banksy hadn't been arrested, said Jo Brooks, his publicist on Monday and the new work appeared later that day.

TagsBanksy, art, Bristol, mural, vermeer, street art, Vandalism, graffiti, London