Wikimedia Commons
The painting “the Immaculate conception” by the Spanish painter Murillo
Wikimedia Commons
Restorer of furniture drastically changed the copy of the painting “the Immaculate conception” of the famous Spanish painter Murillo, trying to restore it, according to the newspaper ABC.
According to the newspaper, a private collector from Valencia instructed the restorer of furniture and other items clean copy of the work of the famous artist for 1200 euros. When he got the job back, it turned out that the face of the virgin Mary in the picture was disfigured and radically altered from the original appearance, but its features greatly simplified.
When the customer demanded an explanation, the restorer tried to fix the problem, but the result of the second attempt was again a picture that has nothing to do with the original. The collector was forced to contact another specialist who will try to restore the picture.
As explained by the Vice President for internal relations and coordinator of the Professional Association of guardians and conservators Spain (ACRE) Maria Borja, such distortions often occur. “We are only aware of cases which condemns a society through the press or social networks, but there are many situations when work is interfering with people who have no education. Work suffer from such unprofessional interventions that may lead to irreversible changes,” she said.
Este es el nuevo “Ecce Homo” valenciano: destrozan al limpiarla una copia de la Virgen de Murillo https://t.co/1pMZSt85bz— ABC.es (@abc_es) June 22, 2020
In 2012, the pensioner Cecilia Gimenez “restored” the victim from the humidity of the fresco Ecce Homo (“Behold the man”) with the image of Christ in the town of Borja under Zaragoza. The resulting “masterpiece” were ironically called “Monkey Christ” and “fluffy Jesus”. While spoiled fresco in Borja attracted tens of thousands of tourists, and non-profit organization Sancti Spiritus, which owns the Church with the mural, were able to capitalize on the new tourist hit more than 50 thousand euros.
Tourists, to see the result of the efforts of Jimenez, had to pay four euros for the entrance – money for the restoration of the frescoes in its original form. While Cecilia jiménez decided that the Church would never be able to collect that amount, if not for her “noble” rush to restore the mural and demanded their share.
Another similar incident occurred in 2018 during the restoration of the statue of St. George of the XVI century in one of the temples of the Spanish Autonomous community of Navarre. After the restoration of the face of St. George was painted in bright pink and his helmet is light blue.