A Quincy woman has been arrested following an apparent act of vandalism on the Robert Gould Shaw and Massachusetts 54th Regiment Memorial at the edge of Boston Common on Tuesday afternoon, police said.

Rosemine Occean, 38, was charged with willful and malicious destruction to city property, according to police.

Around 4, police were called to the famous memorial, across Beacon Street from the State House, where Occean was seen defacing it with yellow paint, officials said. The site was later cordoned off with police tape.

When she was arrested, ­Occean had yellow paint on her face, hands, and clothing, ­police said. Officers recovered a can of yellow paint from the scene, authorities said.

The memorial, by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, honors the Massachusetts 54th Volunteer Infantry, the first documented African-American regiment formed in the north, according to the National Park Service. The statue depicts the regiment under Colonel Shaw as it marched down Beacon Street on May 28, 1863, to head south.

The regiment’s story was ­recounted in the film “Glory.”

The memorial, unveiled in 1897, is “a reminder of the heavy cost paid by individuals and families during the Civil War,” and a remembrance of the men who were among the first African-Americans to fight in that war, the service said.