‘Restoration’ turns antique carving into cartoon figure

IT WAS a little-known but well-regarded 16th-century wooden carving of St George on horseback tucked away in a small church in northern Spain.

But the well-meaning restoration efforts of a local handicrafts teacher have left the 500-year old carving in Estella, Navarre, looking more like a cartoon character, attracting widespread dismay and bringing back bad memories of another Spanish botched restoration that caught the world’s attention in 2012. The restoration of Ecce Homo,a religious mural in Borja, left Christ looking rather more like a monkey than the saviour.

The “unfortunate” restoration of St George at the Romanesque church of San Miguel de Estella was conducted without consultation, according to Koldo Leoz, the town’s mayor. An artsand-crafts workshop company undertook the work at the behest of the local priest, apparently then handing the job to the local teacher.

The carving’s new paint colours have attracted comparisons with Walt Disney characters and Playmobil figures.

The Spanish Conservationists and Restorers Association said the work showed “an alarming lack of the required training”, and that it had contacted prosecutors in case it constituted a crime against objects of cultural and historical value.

Carlos Martínez Álava, the director of Navarre’s heritage department, said his team would see if it were possible to “derestore” the carving.

The 16th-century wooden carving of St George, above, before its restoration by a local handicrafts teacher. The result, left and right, has invited comparisons with Disney characters