In the Spanish city of Borja, an unnamed elderly woman who was distraught by the continued deterioration of a local fresco painting, decided to take matters in to her own hands.
Below is ‘Ecco Homo’, painted by Elias Garcia Martinez, and the same fresco after the unauthorized restoration.
Coincidentally, the local centre that works to preserve artworks had just received a donation days before from the original painter’s granddaughter which they had planned to use to restore the original fresco.
Experts have been scheduled to examine the piece to see if the woman’s work can be undone.
You can read the full article HERE.
i bet the MoMA really really wants that painting.
LMAO @ allenmorris. I can't help but laugh uncontrollably at this. Thanks for sharing Dan! HHAHAHAHAHAAA!!
It's one of those, “What were you thinking” moments. The most suprising part to me is the
“Experts have been scheduled to examine the piece to see if the woman's work can be undone.”
The whole thing is so far gone, that I'm surprised they could even consider it.
Traditional frescos are actually painted into the wet plaster, making them fairly durable. So it's quite possible that this woman's painting (which is sitting ON TOP of that surface) might be able to be removed without damaging the surface beneath.
This thing is becoming so notorious it won't be long before it becomes famous in its own right… XD
Jeez…everyone thinks they are an artist.
I actually kind of like it better than the original, I think they should just leave it. Reminds me of a Picasso or a Gauguin or something!
I'm spanish, and from Aragón, the region wich Borja belongs. This…”issue” here is a total “descojono” (a word that means something like…total lol). This is a piece of art killing, but this woman, with all of her good intentions, has done a favour to her village…Now, Borja is in the map!! With a ridiculous way, but in the map. As I've could hear, police has closed the church, because a lot of people wanted to enter and make photos with the Ecce Homo…thats a sort of fun thing, but terrible at the same time.
Another funny thing: the woman said to the new “restoration team” that she offer herself to help in the final restoration. xD.
I like it. 🙂
this is terrible and hilarious at the same time
Jesus became Ewok.
funny at first but I'm spanish and I saw her on the tv news and I think this is a obvious case of senile dementia, so I don't laugh…
my gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood, that person should be shoot!!! what's with the mouth is she BLIND!?!?!?!
YIKES!
I personnally find this tragic. On one level, my immediate thought was that the woman was clearly not-all-there given the excruciating void between the two skill levels and a post above confirms this.
On another level there is this odd “anyone can paint” thing, that undermines all discernment in skill level. Yes, anyone can paint, but only a few can paint *well* and generally because they've spent more hours on more days over more years than any of the rest. So many hours infact that it's something to marvel at. In some way I don't understand fully, all this is why there's a blindness, or put another way, an inability to appreciate all those hours of study and skill acquired. Our prioritising novelty over skill makes us all poorer. Just sad all round really and the post above who says the place is on the map now – um, methinks they'll come to loathe the reason why.
Can I see theres a funny side, of course, but it's more sad than funny.
(Jeez your new gotcha saps ones will to live guys)
It hurts to look at
I'm from Spain too. The woman said ''It's not finished yet'' and ''It's not the first time I restore something in the church, the priest knows it''
Anyone can paint, and anyone thinks he/she can do it instead spending a lot of money in an expert to do it… The expert costs are because THEY KNOW WHAT ARE DOING AND THEY KNOW HOW TO DO IT.
I'm actually against any kind of restoration of paintings, if its deteriorated or in bad quality, make a copy on another canvas.
well it's a good thing then that you have no say over such matters because this makes no sense.
My mother is convinced it's a gimmick to get more publicity for the town or church.
“I am unable to comment on who may or may not be Banksy, but anyone described as being 'good at drawing' doesn't sound like Banksy to me.” – Banksy
La crisis económica y el estatus social de la iglesia católica hizo que Cecilia, asi se llama la “restauradora”, se animase a intentar salvar un patrimonio valioso en España. No pudo terminarlo y por eso la imagen tan sorprendente. No ha sido un montage ni nada parecido. Solamente la buena voluntad de una mujer.
Skilled conservators might be able to get the new paint off with a variety of chemicals and tools. Don't know what materials and techniques she used, and what exactly she did, so can't really say much more about that. But if lucky, yeah, it can be restored from this…”restoration”. You'd be surprised what some conservators can do.
As someone who's studied museology and conservation, seeing this painting pretty much hurt my mind. Tsk tsk. I reckon the lady was not “all there”. :/
no big loss
A perfect re-creation would have just been glanced over but at least this brought laughter to many. I really like the new version; wonder what it would have looked like when finished.
It's 2016 and I'm still like, “Lovin' it.”
It's 2016 and I'm still like, “Lovin' it.”