“An elderly woman stepped forward this week to claim responsibility for disfiguring a century-old “ecce homo” fresco of Jesus crowned with thorns, in Santuario de la Misericordia, a Roman Catholic church in Borja, near the city of Zaragoza.
Ecce homo, or behold the man, refers to an artistic motif that depicts Jesus, usually bound and with a crown of thorns, right before his crucifixion.
The woman, Cecilia Giménez, who is in her 80s, said on Spanish national television that she had tried to restore the fresco, which she called her favorite local representation of Jesus, because she was upset that parts of it had flaked off due to moisture on the church’s walls.
The authorities in Borja said they had suspected vandalism at first, but then determined that the shocking alterations had been made by an elderly parishioner. The authorities said she had acted on her own.
But Ms. Giménez later defended herself, saying she could not understand the uproar because she had worked in broad daylight and had tried to salvage the fresco with the approval of the local clergy. “The priest knew it,” she told Spanish television. “I’ve never tried to do anything hidden.”
Ms. Giménez said she had worked on the fresco using a 10-year-old picture of it, but she eventually left Jesus with a half-beard and, some say, a monkeylike appearance. The fresco’s botched restoration came to light this month when descendants of the 19th-century artist, Elías García Martínez, proposed making a donation toward its upkeep.
News of the disfiguring prompted Twitter users and bloggers to post parodies online inserting Ms. Giménez’s version of the fresco into other artworks. Some played on the simian appearance of the portrait.” (NYTimes)
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Who is to say what Christ truly looked liked. Yes, if one is to restore a painting, one works to restore what was originally painted. The church officials in this case did not hire professionals to restore this fresco. So guess what, they got a local woman’s attempt to ‘fix this up’. And now they have what is considered the worst ever art restoration of all time.
Family descendants are a bit tardy on their move to restore this fresco. When you wait too long, and paint continues to flake and time takes its toll, is there, will there, anything left to work from?
Unfortunately Ms. Giménez had no professional to consult, the priest did not consult any family descendants or professional restorers, so Ms. Giménez took action and tried to do what she could to save something no one else did.
I may be the only person to say, well, thank you Ms. Giménez, for trying to save something no one else apparently cared enough to do. The world may be in an uproar over this attempt at repair of Christ captured in this particular fresco done by Elías García Martínez, however, ultimately, I think Ms. Giménez can rest in her soul, that Christ himself might say… hey, thanks for trying your best when no one else did anything about my picture on this old church wall.
And, by the way, Christ himself may be looking down and smiling, chuckling even, as the world decries this horror, and he, the great Christ himself, sees an image that may be actually depicting him as he may have looked after a beard trim that reveals a somewhat rounder face than is seen when sporting a longer beard.
How would an abstract painter, a modernist, cubist, or painter of any of the many styles of painting depict Christ? Did Christ ever go through a period of weight gain, have a rounder face than ever captured before, trim his beard, have a bad hair day, an empty look in his eye?
Dear Ms. Giménez, your lord, Chris, whose fading, peeling image you lovingly tried to save, may have a special place for you, should you meet him there beyond the pearly gates. should your depiction remain on the church wall, more people may come to see your work than you ever imagined.
My thoughts and comments,
Judith Abranovich
javich@msn.com