Most of us remember the story from 2012 about Cecilia Gimenez, an 83 year old Spanish woman who disastrously restored a fresco of Jesus crowned with thorns in her local church and became a worldwide laughing stock and sensation. According to The New York Times (“A Town, if Not a Painting, Is Restored”, by Doreen Carvajal, December 15, 2014), that crudely overpainted work of art has drawn to the town of Borja thousands of people who are willing to pay one Euro for the chance to see the art work and has brought an economic revival to a once struggling region. And to think that if Gimenez (or a professional conservator) had performed a careful, subtle treatment, few people would come to see the work.
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AIC Blog Archives: Conservators Converse
Former Blog of the American Institute for Conservation