“Restored” Painting of Christ in Spain - “Behold, the Monkey!” Isn’t there a movie or skit of Mr. Bean cleaning and then retouching a painting?! I never thought we’d see the real deal. Last week as this story leaked out onto the international news networks, I began having people mention this “news item” to me. When the number inquiring what I thought grew to 9, I began keeping a tally. The number of people that have now contacted me regarding my thoughts on this story is 31! This seems like a funny news item to “go international.” I mean, the image of the “art restoration” is an attention getter but… you should know that this type of thing happens ALL THE TIME! Actually there are two parts of the discussion I’ve been privy to: the international layman’s discussion in the news and a private discussion among other professional art conservators on the net. My point of view is that I can’t believe this merits anyone’s time or attention. In case you’ve missed what we’re talking about, here’s the before and after photo of a painting restoration job in Spain of an Old Master painting of Christ where an old woman “restored” the flaking picture belonging to a church.
Some people have re-titled the restored painting “Behold, the Monkey!” As I said before, this isn’t such an uncommon thing and something horrific usually happens when do-it-your-selfers start restoring historical items