Oops! Botched restoration leaves Christ painting disfigured
MADRID (AP) - A small Spanish town is trying to figure out what to do with a 20th-century painting of Christ that has been disfigured by a local artist who took it upon herself to restore it.
Juan Maria Ojeda, an official in Borja town, said 80-year-old Celia Gimenez decided to touch up the fresco of Christ wearing a crown of thorns in the Misericordia church because she thought it needed restoration.
He said no one realized how badly disfigured the painting was until she rang town hall to say what she had done.
The fate of the painting has made national news in Spain.
The fresco is of the genre known as "Ecce Homo" style ("Behold the Man"). But on Thursday some Twitter users were dubbing it "Ecce Mono" ("Behold the Monkey").
Juan Maria Ojeda, an official in Borja town, said 80-year-old Celia Gimenez decided to touch up the fresco of Christ wearing a crown of thorns in the Misericordia church because she thought it needed restoration.
He said no one realized how badly disfigured the painting was until she rang town hall to say what she had done.
The fate of the painting has made national news in Spain.
The fresco is of the genre known as "Ecce Homo" style ("Behold the Man"). But on Thursday some Twitter users were dubbing it "Ecce Mono" ("Behold the Monkey").
I think if they brought it to the Antique Road Show they would say it should have been left it the way it was.
Good thing there's lots of pictures of Christ around Europe.
 @I Like Meat And not one of them is even close to accurate. Jesus was not a European, he was an Aramaic middle easterner and most likely looked nothing like the Renascence artists depicted.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/forensics/1282186
LOL Ill bet she does Taxidermy too
Â
http://www.komonews.com/news/offbeat/Deputies-Stuffed-taxidermists-animals-recovered-167133925.html#lf_comment=34725317
WOW! That is one bad restoration!
Restoration of any very old painting, no matter what the subject, should be left to the experts. These paintings
can't be replaced because they are original and so that just compounds the loss.Â
I saw the picture on imgur and thought it was a joke... that sucks.
I read another article that had MANY more details to this story than Komo's and while the painting doesn't have any much monetary value (thankfully) it does has significant sentimental value. The church is hoping that a QUALIFIED repairer to see if the damage can be undone.
Â
Good luck with that one.
I think my kid drew something like the picture on the right in 3rd grade. What in the world was that woman thinking? If she has skills at one point in her life, they abandoned her in a huge way. What a disaster!
LOL!!! Oh this is so funny!!!! I think this story made my day!
In fact, I want a t-shirt!
Why did she give him an afro?
 @Sovereign It's known as the "What Would Jesus" do...Â
Â
hmm....is that jesus christ in the planet of the apes???? Â Â even if it's an abstract painting, it's still too much.... Â oh my...
 @CIAassassin I think you'll be a perfect model for their re-restoration, CIA!
 @CovertAgent of course!  but can i keep my sunglasses on? Â
 @CIAassassin Never.  U have to take everything off!
 @CIAassassin Jesus Christ Apeman - modern art masterpiece
Who let an 80 year old woman near a paint brush! My gosh what an awful job. My cat could have done a better job using his tail! And as for the original picture not looking like Jesus? No one really knows, so quit trying to color code him. He's everyone's Jesus, so let's leave it that way. Not only that, but according to the Jewish Book of Jubilees he appeared as a child before his disciples. So that makes him a shape-shifter too eh? You only know what you know, you don't know what you don't know, so don't pretend that you do!
Christ on a cracker! Looks a bit like an ape with down syndrome. Unfortunately there is no record of Jesus existing outside of the bible. The portraits of him were mostly done over 200 years after his supposed death and resurrection. Funny how the neo-nazis and white power groups claim to be Christians and have their blond hair blue eyed Jesus pictures in their church when people of that area and era were dark skinned. Really bad restoration by the way.
Â
Did find this quite interesting. http://www.rejesus.co.uk/blog/post/ealiest_known_picture_of_jesus_goes_on_display/
 @Luciferian Or this one:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/forensics/1282186
@Luciferian There are actually plenty of records of Jesus outside the bible, including Josephus' "The Antiquities Of The Jews" from 93 AD and Lucian of Samosata (115-200 AD) who was a Greek satirist who mentioned Christ and Christians, affirming them as real people and not fictional characters.
I wonder if it took her like three hours to finish the shading on his upper lip.
Well.... The rolled-up scroll at the bottom looks kind of okay.
Oh my god how funny is this! It reminds me of the movie "Bean" where Mr Bean ruins Whistler's Mother and drawing a cartoonish face in it's place.
It looks like an orangutan. Â
I'm sorry, she's an official in this town and she didn't know that there are always "processes" to undertaking any public works projects? and she had the audacity to admit to it, publicly? Does she officiate in a village of idiots or something? This looks like something a 5 year old would do ! How horrible that such a magnificent fresco was ruined at her hand!!!Â
She gave Jesus a nose job, and took away the mustache; and she replaced his beard with a maroon neck/head scarf, it looks like. And now he's looking right at us. Unsettling, to say the least.
This comment has been deleted
Are you sure you weren't channeling from a "Prince Albert" can?
@semprecoraggio Good one.
I wonder if the town will take her to Pamplona to run with the bulls next year.
At least it somewhat resembles what Jesus would have looked like instead of the more common blue-eyed, straight light brown haired northern European renditions.
Jesus doing the duck face
This looks like something Mr. Bean would do.
Â
E.g. Whistler's Mother
It probably looks great if you haven't updated your eyeglass prescription for 40 years.
The mouth appears to be a little off.
Oh dear, looks like she is a Darwinist.
Dear Candidate,
Thank you for your application for art restorer. We see you are a self starter and admire your determination and drive to finish what you start. However, your lack of rudimentary painting skills cannot go unnoticed. At thi...s time, neither the Mona Lisa nor any of our other beloved and treasured paintings need this âtreatment.â Good luck in securing employment in your chosen field.
Sincerely, The Louvre Art Director
Maybe she was secretly mocking the religion by saying humans evolved from baboons.
Is it me or does it look like a Picasso.
 @mstipton Before clicking on the story that's what I thought too... Then I saw the larger image and realized just how child-like the "restoration" looks. Funny but sad.
 @mstipton Not that I want to give this woman any credit for making this look "famous" but you're right, it does, sort of, look like a Picasso. Â