LONDON (AFP).- Police in London on Tuesday said a man was charged with criminal damage after reports of an attack on a Picasso painting at the Tate Modern art gallery.

The Metropolitan Police said a 20-year-old man from northwest London appeared in court on Monday and was remanded in custody until another hearing on January 30.

No other details were released, other than the incident happened on Saturday.

The gallery also did not specify the work in question but said the suspect was "swiftly apprehended" and that conservation experts were assessing the artwork.

British media identified the work as Picasso's "Bust of a Woman", an oil painting depicting the artist's lover Dora Maar. He painted it in Paris in 1944 during the final days of the Nazi occupation.

The Daily Telegraph said the painting was torn but there was no immediate confirmation.

© Agence France-Presse