Copy of Spanish Baroque painting botched by amateur restoration

[andy]

Someone needs to practice more with dot-to-dots and colouring books!



An art collector in Spain has been left stunned by the botched restoration of a copy of a painting by Baroque artist Bartolomé Esteban Murillo.

The Valencia-based private collector paid €1,200 ($1,355; £1,087) for it to be cleaned by a furniture restorer, according to Spain's Europa Press.

But despite two attempts to fix it, the picture of the Immaculate Conception has been left unrecognisable.

The incident has drawn comparisons with other recent "restorations" in Spain.

In 2012, an elderly parishioner attempted to restore a prized fresco of Jesus Christ at her local church near Zaragoza. But her paint job led to the painting being dubbed 'Monkey Christ.'



Last year a 16th-Century statue of St George at a church in Navarre also caught public attention after a restoration job , with some comparing its new look to a Playmobil figure.



There is currently no law in Spain forbidding people from restoring artwork, even if they do so without the necessary skills.

In a statement , the country's Professional Association of Restorers and Conservators (Acre) condemned the lack of legal protections, and called the recent incident an act of "vandalism".

"This lack of regulation translates into an absence of protection of our heritage," said Acre.

"In recent years, conservation-restoration professionals have been forced to emigrate or leave their professions due to a lack of opportunities," it added, warning that the industry was at "serious risk of disappearing" in Spain.

An earlier version of this story incorrectly suggested the restoration was on the original Bartolomé Esteban Murillo artwork rather than a copy.

[CellarDweller]

lmao! OMG! Those restorations kill me!

Here in the US, the restoration of Jesus was referred to as "Beast Christ".

[Bookworm]

These are shocking! What were they thinking letting these people loose on valuable art works! 

[CellarDweller]

There were so many photo manipulations of the Beast Christ one for a while, every day I would wake to a new one, and start laughing.

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[Chase]

Pardon the pun, but . . . Jesus Christ!

And to think my mind was once boggled by the guy who got caught glueing King Tut's beard back on after he accidentally snapped it off the burial mask. At least that was less noticeable than the hack job on these paintings.

I'm glad I was at least fortunate enough to have seen some artwork and artifacts from earlier time periods. Who knows how much longer we'll have anything left of ancient times. It's already bad enough we've had to lose so much to arrogant invaders and "collectors."

[andy]

I know... definitely look more like amateur abstract versions!

[LJay]

Methinks the placement of an ad for art supplies in the middle of this is a bit sick.

[eastofeden]

Whoa - no words. 

Maybe they got their art degree from trump university!