"This is what you get when you hire an amateur to do a job requiring a professional.
"Picture 1. Pre Obama economy
"Picture 2. Economy when Obama takes office
"Picture 3. Obama economy 4 years later. A complete transformation, EPIC FAIL. "
Posted on 08/25/2012 8:07:27 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
People around the world were shocked Wednesday when images of a ruined 19th century Spanish painting of Christ were revealed. But now the woman who altered the painting is saying a priest in the church that was home to the artwork knew she was attempting to touch up the faded piece.
Cecilia Gimenez, identified only as being "in her 80s," spoke to Televisión Española after the story spread. A reporter asked Gimenez if she had been instructed to paint on the artwork.
The BBC provides an English translation of her answer as, "Of course! It was the priest! The priest knew it, he did!"
When asked if she did the work secretly, Gimenez's translated response is, "Of course not! Everybody who came into the church could see I was painting."
But the New York Times reports that authorities in the region at first suspected vandalism, and said Gimenez had acted on her own. Authorities are considering legal action against Gimenez, the Times reports.
Television Española also spoke with Teresa Garcia, the granddaughter of Elias Garcia Martinez, the artist who painted "Ecce Homo (Behold the Man)" more than a century ago. Garcia seemed to be OK with part of Gimenez's restoration work.
"Until now, she had just painted the tunic, but the problem started when she painted on the head as well," Garcia told the reporter. "She has destroyed this painting."
Officials in the area, near Zaragoza, Spain, have contacted professional art restorers to examine the painting and suggest how it might be repaired.
Reaction to Gimenez's work has been overwhelming. Many who posted responses on TODAY's Facebook page found the final result humorous, some were outraged that Gimenez attempted to alter the work and others begged for sympathy for the would-be artist.
Wrote Geraldine Hamtil Cassidy, "Look, nobody knows what Jesus really looked like. Maybe her rendition is more accurate..."
The BBC Europe correspondent described the painting's current state as resembling "a crayon sketch of a very hairy monkey in an ill-fitting tunic."
Even his early ventures into abstraction reveal a great deal more talent than his well known works, very tonal and highly textured.
Maybe. But she's quick to blame the priest for not stopping her. I took the story as just another busy-body who thought they knew better and jumped in with both feet.
Another part of me thinks: this is just human nature. She wanted to do right but pride got in the way. We're lucky that this brouhaha is over one, small painting.
Your example is indeed “art”.
Now it looks like Neanderthal Jesus. What a mess!
LOL that’s perfect, although that untouched picture has certain “charm” too!
"This is what you get when you hire an amateur to do a job requiring a professional.
"Picture 1. Pre Obama economy
"Picture 2. Economy when Obama takes office
"Picture 3. Obama economy 4 years later. A complete transformation, EPIC FAIL. "
We need a restoration to the Presidency! :)
you wrote:
“You sure that woman’s Hispanic?”
She’s Spanish. What did you think the Spaniards generally looked like?
GASP!
She could be lying or she could have convinced the priest that she knew what she was doing.
I am an artist and I would not have touched this painting. She painted over the entire thing when only the left side of Jesus head and his left ear were gone. The painting should have had preservation many years ago but what she did was horrible!
"The last time I saw a restoration turn out this badly, it was led by George Lucas."
I suspect there was some upset over not getting funding to restore the fresco, just letting it crumble and fall into complete ruin, so they determined to get some negative attention and force the hands of the diocese.
That's why the priest knew and didn't put a stop to it, imho.
You wrote:
“You mean they don’t all look like Hugo Chavez?”
Did you think Spaniards ever looked like Hugo Chavez?
I understand that sometimes political situations in other countries can be a tad on the inscrutable side for those outside the country, and I also understand that English as a second language can be a particular challenge as far as grasping shades of meaning, particularly pertaining to humor, irony and sarcasm. Maybe my other replies to this thread can help relieve you of your misapprehensions in this regard. Perhaps you should read them.
You wrote:
“I understand that sometimes political situations in other countries can be a tad on the inscrutable side for those outside the country,”
Who in this thread is from outside the country and how exactly would you know that?
“and I also understand that English as a second language can be a particular challenge as far as grasping shades of meaning, particularly pertaining to humor, irony and sarcasm.”
Who here in this thread knows English only as a second language? Who here has said that English is a second language for them?
“Maybe my other replies to this thread can help relieve you of your misapprehensions in this regard. Perhaps you should read them.”
I read them. Why do you assume I did not? You seem to assume many things. Perhaps you should think more before you post.
It could have waited a few more years, say until after she was dead.
Left is as it was 2010, centre is July this year, after she cleaned it prior to "restoration", right is the reboot.
She is not Hispanic. She is Spanish. Hispanic refers to people in the New World of Spanish descent, many of whom have mixed blood (African, the various Indians, etc.).
You don’t have to know anything about art to understand that the painting looked a certain way, based on the intention of the painter and the period in which he painted, and the botched restoration rendered the painting unrecognizable and therefore destroyed the intention of the painter.
The fact that you think it looks like a Picasso proves that the intention of the painter was destroyed, because the painter was not Picasso or trying to emulate Picasso. Whether or not Picasso’s work has merit is entirely beside the point. The point is that the painting is unrecognizable, and therefore has been destroyed.
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