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Church masterpiece 'restored' as Mr. Bean would do it
The efforts of an elderly parishioner to restore a 120-year-old fresco on a column inside a Spanish church have some wondering if a Mr. Bean movie was the inspiration for the effort.
The fresco, titled Ecce Homo (Behold the Man), is a depiction of Jesus Christ with a crown of thorns. It was painted on a wall of the Sanctuary of Mercy at Borja, near Zaragoza, Spain, by artist Elias Garcia Martinez more than a century ago.
Its troubling "restoration" occurred after the local Center for Borja Studies received the donation of a canvas done by Garcia from one his granddaughters who lives nearby, according to the center's blog.
Center staff noted that the only other known work by Garcia in the area was Ecce Homo, went to the church to photograph the fresco, and realized it was in bad shape.
Parishioner Cecilia Giménez said she was asked by the church to fix things up.
“The priest was aware … he knew,” she is quoted as saying in a report on Euronews.com. “Of course I did it because I was told to do it."
In its blog, the center expresses "astonishment" that "an intervention was done" on the painting.
"As unbelievable as it sounds, this is what remains of the work of an artist whose relatives still live in our city," the blog reads.
Giménez said her work was done in the open and nobody tried to stop her, according to Euronews.
"Everybody that came into the church saw me. I never tried to hide,” she is quoted as saying.
"Clearly, she has destroyed the painting," Garcia's granddaughter, Teresa Garcia, is quoted as saying.
The center says it doesn't know if the "restoration" can be fixed.
"We don’t know if this indescribable act has a solution, but there is no doubt that someone should adopt strict measures so that there is not a repetition of acts like this, which despite its intentions, should be strongly condemned," its blog says.
But in reader comments on the blog, some wonder whether the "restoration" is a repetition of a previous act, one from the 1997 Rowan Atkinson film "Bean."
“Something similar happened in the movie Mr. Bean. … It probably inspired whoever did this,” one commenter writes.
In the movie, Mr. Bean accidentally sneezes on the masterpiece "Whistler's Mother" and attempts a crude repair.
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The Ecce Homo "restoration" is arguably better than Bean's line drawing, and that might be just as well, because there's doubt that Ecce Homo can be returned to its original splendor. And at least one commenter on the blog sees a silver lining.
"I think that the city of Borja should conserve the painting in its current state," the person writes. "It could become a tourist attraction for the town.”
On Twitter
That is terrible. To have destroyed a work of art in such a way. She should be charged for this, no matter if her intentions were good or not, she is liable for the damage, ignorance is no excuse for the outcome.
dont be stupid. OK?
And how do you suggest she should be punished? And by whom?
In the same manner as any vandalism. She has robbed the world of an artistic treasure there needs to be consequences for those responsible.
its just that she didn't finish yet, give her a break. Once she adds the cartoon bubble with Jesus saying "Honk if you love Jesus".
Well, she could certainly be sued for starters.
Can only expect CNN to find these sesasionalistic articles, in their ongoing futile attack on Christianity. Keep trying, CNN 😉
Actually it is logic and reasons continued attack on ignorance, including religious delusional ignoance.
The null hypothesis is that god does not exist. Since there is no evidence to support the existance of god, the null hypothesis holds as the logical position. To abandon this position is to enter into insanity.
Just as it is crazy to believe in the 6ft tall green monster in my closet without evidence, so is it crazy to believe in god without evidence.
It is not an attack on Christianity. If it can be verified that people in charge saw her do it. and like she says actually asked her to, then it is poor judgement on their part. Art restoration should be done by experts, not random elderly parishioners. On any painting.
I think that awful "restoration" was an attack on Christianity, not CNN's article.
Instead of attacking CNN you should attack the parishoner who destroyed the painting.
Lol no one bothered to look at your winking and smiling emoticon. Hilarious! Too funny!
How is this article an attack on christianity. be quite if yuo cant make intelligent conversation. Jesus was very likley not white with blue eyes in anycase!
Don't get em in a wad. This is certainly not meant to bash Christianity. We are talking about one person, could've been anyone, who ruined a beautiful, classic piece of art work that happened to be a church. That's it. No more. No less.
LOL I saw someone post this on Facebook with a comment that said, "FAIL" and I thought it was a joke. Wow... This is too funny. ><
How sad to see such a louzy job. I have always wondered what did Jesus really look like? I will bet the painting they have of him as seen in this original, was not like the real man.
Since when does "lousy" have a Z?
seriously who asked for a spellcheck anywys?
Jesus now looks like the fairly tale character he is.
I don't see any problem with it, it has become a new work of art.
What did Jesus say when he was on the cross???
OOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!
Personally I would have given him green eyes and horns.
LMAO it looks like an eskimo
I'm sure there's something this person could be charged with for destroying this. Absolutely unbelievable.
The face of a monkey miraculously appeared on jesus. Proof that Darwin was correct and a future shrine to the faithful in the theory of evolution. Lourdes, watch out!
When I heard this on the news this morning, the first thing that came to my mind was the scene from Mr. Beans movie..LOL!
omg- literally. And who was the genius that approved the work, the worker, and did not check in on her, before she created a bobblehead?!
They do not know if the restoration can be fixed? The restoration was the fix. The restoration was done flawlessly. It looks just like it did 100 years ago.
JESUS CHRIST! >.<
every time i scroll up i can't stop laughing at this thing...she turned Jesus into a fat woman wearing a winter hat and then she even went as far as to draw the bottom part of the scroll rolled up!!! lmao