CONSERVATION EXPERTS in Spain are calling for tighter restrictions on the laws surrounding the restoration of fine artworks.
It comes after an art collector in Spain was left stunned after a 17th century painting of the Virgin Mary was rendered hideously unrecognisable following a botched restoration job.
The private collector, from Valencia, has garnered criticism after paying an inexperienced furniture restorer a paltry 1,200 euros (£1,080) to restore a copy of The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables by the baroque artist Bartolomé Esteban Murillo.
It proved nothing short of a disaster, with Mary’s face left seriously disfigured following his efforts.
Desperate to correct the issue, the unnamed furniture restorer then attempted to correct the damage he had done but only succeeded in making it worse.
How could this happen? An amateur restorer got his hands on this portrayal of the Virgin Mary by Spanish baroque painter Bartolome Esteban Murillo. The result has been met with derision far beyond the borders of Spain. pic.twitter.com/4snEUNKOEJ
— DW Culture (@dw_culture) June 23, 2020
The story has sparked anger in Spain with Fernando Carrera, a professor at the Galician School for the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage.
He is among those calling for a change to Spanish law that would see only trained restorers legally allowed to perform restoration on artworks on this kind.
“I don't think this guy - or these people - should be referred to as restorers... they're bodgers who botch things up. They destroy things,” he told The Guardian.
“Can you imagine just anyone being allowed to operate on other people? Or someone being allowed to sell medicine without a pharmacist's licence? Or someone who's not an architect being allowed to put up a building?”
Carrera also took aim at politicians in Spain who “just don't give a t*ss about heritage”.
The incident comes a few years after a similar fiasco involving the restoration of a painting of Jesus in the Spanish town of Borja.
On that occasion, pensioner Cecilia Giménez was responsible for touching up the 'Ecce Homo' (Behold The Man) painting stationed in the town’s Sanctuary of Our Lady of Mercy church.
Her brushwork ended up destroying the original painting and, specifically, the face of Jesus, with the resulting image dubbed “Beast Jesus”.
