Oops! #$@!&%$#!@!
Straight out of a Mr. Bean film.... unbelievable. Life imitates art. Or is it vice-versa?
From the nation that keeps Castrolandia full of tourists. This "restorer" must also be in charge of Cuban affairs at the Spanish foreign ministry.
(Pero mira que descarado este Babaluero nieto de Gallegos y Catalanes, como le gusta meterle la politica a todo... igualito que Fontova... le zumba).
Before and after
Art Restoration Project Botched by Amateur (from BBC news)
An elderly parishioner has stunned Spanish cultural officials with an alarming and unauthorised attempt to restore a prized Jesus Christ fresco.
Ecce Homo (Behold the Man) by Elias Garcia Martinez has held pride of place in the Sanctuary of Mercy Church near Zaragoza for more than 100 years.
The woman took her brush to it after years of deterioration due to moisture.
Cultural officials said she had the best intentions and hoped it could be properly restored.
The woman, in her 80s, was reportedly upset at the way the fresco had deteriorated and took it on herself to "restore" the image.
BBC Europe correspondent Christian Fraser says the delicate brush strokes of Elias Garcia Martinez have been buried under a haphazard splattering of paint.
The once-dignified portrait now resembles a crayon sketch of a very hairy monkey in an ill-fitting tunic, he says.
The woman appears to have realised she was out of her depth and contacted Juan Maria Ojeda, the city councillor in charge of cultural affairs.
Art historians are expected to meet at the church soon to discuss how to proceed.
Mr Ojeda said: "I think she had good intentions. Next week she will meet with a repairer and explain what kind of materials she used.
"If we can't fix it, we will probably cover the wall with a photo of the painting."
The fresco is not thought to be very valuable, but has a high sentimental value for local people.
Our correspondent says that to make matters worse, the local centre that works to preserve artworks had just received a donation from the painter's granddaughter which they had planned to use to restore the original fresco.
O. M. G.
Who knows? In the land of Dali and Picasso they might move it over to the Prado?
I’ll refrain from stating the (very) obvious regarding the “restorer,” but I’ll say this: if the simian version were the work of some trendy “enfant terrible” artist who called it something like “Ecce Homo Redux,” there would be multiple rich fools with far more money than taste competing to buy it for serious money—such is the state of the contemporary art scene, and that’s the truth.