Bungling art restorer ruins 350-year-old masterpiece
A MASTERPIECE by baroque artist Bartolomé Esteban Murillo has become the latest in a long line of botched art restorations in Spain.
The 17th century work of the Immaculate Conception was reportedly cleaned by a hapless furniture restorer.
But, despite two efforts to return the work to its original state, the face of the Virgin Mary is now unrecognisable – causing outrage in the art world and beyond.
Fernando Carrera, a professor at the Galician School for the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage, said: “I don’t think this guy – or these people – should be referred to as restorers. Let’s be honest: they’re bodgers who botch things up... destroy things.”
The owner, a private art collector in Valencia, was charged €1,200 (£1,000) to have the painting spruced up.
Two subsequent attempts to restore it to its original state also failed.
The bungled attempts come after the infamous “Monkey Christ” incident eight years ago, when a devout parishioner’s attempt to restore a painting of the scourged Christ on the wall of a church on the outskirts of the north-eastern Spanish town of Borja made headlines around the world.
Heritage
Mr Carrera led calls for laws around art restoration to be tightened up.
“Can you imagine just anyone being allowed to operate on other people? Or someone who’s not an architect being allowed to put up a building?” he said.
“We see this kind of thing time and time again and yet it keeps on happening. It shows just how important professional restorers are.
“We need to invest in our heritage, but even before we talk about money, we need to make sure that the people who undertake this kind of work have been trained in it.”
Maria Borja, vice president of Spain’s Professional Association of Restorers and Conservators, said shoddy restorations were common and “mean that artworks suffer and the damage can be irreversible”.