Posted on 06/25/2020 1:18:17 PM PDT by Red Badger
June 23 (UPI) -- The Spanish owner of a painting by famed artist Bartolome Esteban Murillo said he paid more than $1,300 to have it restored and the process made a mess of the Virgin Mary's face.
The Valencia owner of The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables by baroque artist Bartolome Esteban Murillo said he paid $1,356.69 to have a furniture restorer clean the painting, but the attempt destroyed the face of the Virgin Mary.
The owner said the restorer made two attempts to restore the face, and the results left the painting with a cartoon-like visage.
The botched restoration drew comparisons to the Ecce Homo painting, which was redubbed "Monkey Christ" after an 81-year-old church member attempted an amateur restoration in 2012.
Fernando Carrera, a professor at the Galician School for the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage and a former president of Spain's Professional Association of Restorers and Conservators, said the latest incident highlights the need for regulation in the business of restoration.
"I don't think this guy -- or these people -- should be referred to as restorers," Carrera told the Guardian. "Let's be honest: they're bodgers who botch things up. They destroy things."
Carrera said current laws in Spain allow people to sell their services as art restoration experts even if they lack the necessary skills.
"Can you imagine just anyone being allowed to operate on other people? Or someone being allowed to sell medicine without a pharmacist's license? Or someone who's not an architect being allowed to put up a building?" he said.
I’ve seen kindergarten children do better portriates.
Maybe h can just tell people it’s abstract art.
This keeps happening to religious artworks. Purposeful destruction?
This keeps happening to religious artworks. Purposeful destruction?
umm I think I’d have it checked to make sure it’s the same painting..... cleaning it should not have done that. An expensive lesson learned and possibly ruined forever.
Caveat emptor.
Not too many artists around with the talent of the Renaissance painters.
That wasn’t botched.
Reminds me of the Mr. Bean movie!.....................
Damn I’m good!
Hmm... similar to that Jesus painting in a church that an old woman destroyed a few years ago, also in Spain.
What is it about Spaniards?
Ya get what ya pay for, folks. I bet that's the last time this guy picks Craigslist as the place to find a furniture restorer to fix up a maserpiece.
Leni
Um. . .he allowed someone to do this without examining the ‘restorer’s’ other work? I also can’t imagine a competent art restorer to work on an old master like that for only $1,300. You get what you pay for.
Or a tattoo artist?
How many sangrias did you have?
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