80-year-old amateur artist Cecilia Giménez had nothing but good intentions when she turned her attention to the deteriorating fresco of Jesus Christ on the wall of the Cathedral of Mercy in the small Spanish town of Borja.
The mural, entitled "Ecce Homo" (meaning "Here is the man"), was created by Spanish artist Elías García Martínez in 1930. Although the work was generally considered by the press to have "little artistic value" because "Martinez is not a great artist and his painting Ecce Homo is not a 'masterpiece,'" the fresco nevertheless acquired some sentimental value among the local population.
So, when the original paint on the fresco began to peel, Cecilia Jimenez, who had no special training, took on the task of restoring the aging artwork.
The damaged fresco "Ecce Homo" on the left and its "restored" version on the right.
Jimenez touched up the painting stroke by stroke for several years with the knowledge of the parish priest and church guards, until one day in the summer of 2012 she decided that the fresco needed a major restoration. In the middle of the "restoration process", Jimenez went on vacation because the work took much longer than she expected. The woman intended to complete it upon her return, but, for better or worse, she never got the chance again.
By the time she returned from vacation, the general public had learned of her failed efforts, and Jimenez had become a worldwide laughing stock. The failed restoration became a major topic on the Internet, spawning many memes and jokes on the World Wide Web. Journalists compared the restoration to how the famous character Mr. Bean, played by Rowan Atkinson, ruined the painting “Whistler’s Mother”. Some compared the painting to a blurry image of a potato and a monkey. Others called her "Furry Jesus" and "Ecce Mono" ("Behold the Monkey").
Jimenez felt so humiliated that she cried for days and refused to eat, according to her family. As a result, the woman had to seek help from a psychiatrist and take medication. At some point, the heirs of Garcia Martinez threatened to sue Cecilia Jimenez for damaging the painting, but, fortunately for her, they did not follow through.
The original intact painting (left), the damaged painting (middle), and Cecilia Jimenez's restoration (right).
Nowadays, in a strange twist of fate, the small, little-known town of Borja has suddenly appeared on the international tourist route. Every year, tens of thousands of curious visitors with a strange sense of humor come from far corners of the world to witness the tragic fiasco for themselves and go home with various souvenirs such as mugs and T-shirts featuring the "new and improved" Ecce Homo mural.
Cecilia Jimenez, whose failed attempt to restore a church painting once drew mockery and ridicule, is now a local celebrity. She presents prizes in a competition for young artists who paint their own versions of "Ecce Homo." People recognize her on the street and shout: "It's Cecilia! It's Cecilia!" It even has 49% of the revenue from the sale of souvenirs. The rest goes to the family of the artist Martinez.
Cecilia Jimenez may not have been able to restore the painting, but she managed to revive the destiny of her city. The influx of tourists has helped stabilize Borja's economy, reeling from the economic downturn that has plagued the rest of Spain over the past few years.
"For me it's a story of faith," said Andrew Flack, the opera librettist who wrote a comic opera about how one woman defaced a fresco and saved the city. "It's a miracle how she was able to help tourism flourish!"
“Why do people come to look at the fresco if it is such a work of art?” he asks. “This is a kind of pilgrimage, transformed by the media into a phenomenon. The ways of God are mysterious. Your catastrophe may turn into a miracle for me.”
Mr. Bean's "Restored" painting by James McNeill Whistler "Arrangement in Gray and Black: The Artist's Mother" from the film "Mr. Bean", 1997
Assortment of souvenirs "Ecce Homo".
A collection of Internet memes about the failed restoration of the "Ecce Homo" fresco.
Tourists line up to look at the church painting "Ecce Homo" on the altar at the Shrine of Mercy in Borja, Spain.
"Behold the man"
Fresco by Elias Garcia Martinez
In the small Spanish town of Borja, located near Zaragoza, with a population of 5,000 people, there is a Temple of Mercy, the main attraction of which was the fresco “Ecce Homo” (“Behold the Man”). It was written by the artist Elias García Martinez, known until now only to specialists. He was born in 1858 in the municipality of Requena, where he began to draw, then studied painting at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of St. Carlos, then went to Barcelona and then to Zaragoza. In Zaragoza, the artist got married and taught portraiture at the School of Art. Died in 1934. His work is not rated very highly by critics. The fresco was in a deplorable state - part of the face of Christ had been erased, and in some places the paint was crumbling due to humidity. The parishioners were greatly upset by the state of the painting.
In 2010, 80-year-old retiree Cecilia Jimenez decided to restore it herself. According to her, the rector authorized the restoration. According to church representatives, no one knew anything about the parishioner’s artistic activities. This is hard to believe, given that the “restoration” lasted for two years and was interrupted in the summer of 2012, when specialists specially hired to restore the fresco by the author’s granddaughter Teresa Martinez arrived at the church at her own expense.
There was a buzz in the press. Some demand that the painting be truly restored, others compare Cecilia with Goya, Munch and Modigliani, believing that the work needs to be preserved as an interesting example of primitivism, while others mock the result, calling it “Ecce Mono” (“Behold the monkey”).
My opinion is this.
Firstly, the position of the church on this issue is surprising - either they do not notice the restoration carried out for two years, then suddenly they begin to take money from tourists to return the fresco to its original state. Of course, many people simply need to engage in socially useful activities to assert themselves. Cecilia Jimenez lived a hard life, and this brings a person much closer to religion. She can draw, and the pastor might well allow her to work on the painting of the temple. But you can’t entrust such serious work on a cultural monument to a non-specialist, and then hide cowardly, not wanting to say directly: “yes, Cecilia acted with the best intentions, and only we are to blame for the current situation.”
And secondly, after the hype in the press, many learned about the existence of such an artist as Elias Garcia Martinez, who, in my opinion, was absolutely wrong to consider mediocre. What can be seen on the original of the dilapidated fresco is impressive and touches the soul. How many more discoveries remain to be made completely by chance?
For several years now, tens of thousands of tourists have been flocking to the Temple of Mercy, located in the Spanish city of Borja. They want to look at one small fresco depicting Jesus Christ with their own eyes. But instead of awe, some people burst into involuntary giggles, while others look away in bewilderment. The fact is that the fresco has been restored. But it turned into something completely unimaginable.
An 83-year-old resident of the Spanish city of Borja, Cecilia Jimenez, was not thinking anything bad when she offered her help in the restoration of the fresco “Ecce Homo”, created by the artist Elias García Martinez in 1932. The painting began to crumble and threatened to disappear completely, so with the permission of the rector of the temple, the parishioner began restoration paintings. It took her 2 years.
When people saw the updated fresco, many could not say anything from the shock they experienced. Instead of Jesus, there was now a creature from children's drawings. Some called the mural a “potato with eyes,” others called it a “monkey,” and still others called it “Fluffy Jesus.” Relatives of the artist who painted the fresco even wanted to sue the elderly woman.
Cecilia Jimenez sincerely did not understand what she had done wrong when a flurry of indignation and reproaches rained down on her from all sides.
However, ironically, the town has become popular among tourists. Everyone wanted to see what the old lady had done with the fresco. Soon the temple servants introduced a symbolic entrance fee, and souvenir shops appeared nearby on the street. When Cecilia Jimenez found out about this, she immediately went to demand her share of the profits. The authorities met the woman halfway because, thanks to her “restoration” and the influx of tourists, the economy of the city of Borja has stabilized.
Some art historians have already attributed “Furry Jesus” to the “primitivism” painting style and compared it with the works of such masters as Goya and Munch.
By the way, the work of Edvard Munch was also perceived ambiguously by his contemporaries.
A Spanish pensioner tried to independently restore a 19th-century fresco - one of the main attractions of the local church. The result was disastrous.
A fresco by Elias García Martínez depicting Jesus Christ graced a church near Zaragoza for over a hundred years.
Art Over the years, it has received some damage: some of the fragments have been erased due to the high humidity in the room, and in some places the paint has crumbled.
Then the 80-year-old woman brought paints to the church and completed the missing details.
According to BBC correspondent Christian Fraser, instead of the Savior on the fresco, it turned out to be something similar to a hairy monkey in a shapeless tunic. Martinez's fine work was hidden by crudely applied paint.
The parishioner soon realized she had damaged the ancient work and contacted the local council, who are hoping to restore the fresco.
The image of the “restored” fresco spread all over the world and attracted the attention of thousands of Internet users.
“I am very glad that my church and my city became known to the whole world thanks to me, although this was not my intention when I began restoring the fresco,” explains Jimenez.
As a result of enormous attention and mass criticism, Jimenez felt acutely about what happened.
“She spends every summer in the temple,” explains Jose Maria Aznar, who is responsible for the maintenance of the church. “All these years, Cecilia has helped us restore the church without any problems. At first she was afraid to touch the fresco, seeing that it was badly damaged, but one morning she took her brushes and, without discussing it with anyone, began to “restore” it.
Although Ms. Jimenez has her detractors, many people support her. Hundreds of fans sent her letters of approval.
“I want to thank you for the support I receive from all over the world,” says Jimenez. “Thanks to her, I feel much better now.”
“She told my wife what she had done, she said, 'I retouched the mural and now it looks terrible, I have to leave town, I'll leave it like this for now, but when I come back I'll fix it,' explains Aznar. “But, despite her good will, I, as the person in charge of the temple, had to inform the mayor’s office of Borja.
After this, local authorities came to the church to analyze what happened. They later published their findings on a blog. They were posted on Facebook, and Borja and its residents gained worldwide fame.
Spanish art experts are planning to hold a meeting in the church to discuss the restoration plan.
Juan Maria Oeda, a member of the city council for cultural affairs, which is involved in the case, said that the culprit is ready to meet with experts and tell them what materials she used.
"I think she [the pensioner] had the best intentions. If we fail to restore the mural, we will hang a photo of the work on the wall of the church," Oeda said.
The artistic value of the fresco is not very great, but local residents appreciated it.
According to the BBC correspondent, as luck would have it, a local restoration center had just received a donation from the artist's granddaughter, which was intended to restore the fresco.
In 2012, a rather curious scandal occurred in the art world: everyone rushed to repost the news about the Spanish pensioner Cecilia Jimenez, who “restored” a fresco from the beginning of the 20th century.
The mural, entitled Ecce Homo (“Behold the Man”), was a local landmark in the small Spanish town of Borja. It was indeed in a deplorable state, but the result of the work of the self-proclaimed restorer both horrified and amused the public. Instead of the face of Christ, from the wall of the temple there was now, as a BBC correspondent put it, “a monkey in an ill-fitting jacket.” On the Internet, the pensioner’s work has also become known as “Furry Jesus.”
Ironically, a relative of the author of the fresco, the artist Elias Garcia Martinez, sent funds to the temple to restore its work, but the help was late: by that time Jimenez had already managed to complete what she started. The news spread across all news channels around the world, and instantly acquired the status of a meme on the Internet, provoking an avalanche of cartoons.
Under a barrage of condemnation from the press, church ministers rushed to make excuses, fenced off the “scene of the incident” and organized a committee to restore the fresco.
But then things took an unexpected turn: crowds of tourists poured into a hitherto unknown town with a population of 5 thousand people and reigning unemployment!
The city's income increased significantly, and the church, not at a loss, again opened access to the fresco and began charging visitors an entrance fee. Cecilia Jimenez, who at first asked for forgiveness for her vandalism, also changed her attitude to the situation, hired a lawyer and began to demand royalties for her work.
