A Valencian art collector commissioned the restoration of Murillo's Immaculate Conception, but the work performed turned out to be a mess: the face of the Madonna was disfigured.
A Spanish art collector commissioned restoration work on a XNUMXth-century masterpiece, but was literally baffled when the work was returned to him. The restorer (evidently inexperienced) to whom he had turned should have restored light and beauty to the face of the'Immaculate Conception by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, one of the most important exponents of European baroque. Too bad that his work turned out to be a real failure: in fact, the face of the Virgin Mary has been defaced and appears truly unrecognizable.
@Europa Press 2020
The episode took place in Valencia and for the "restoration" (if it can be defined as such) the collector was asked for a good 1.200 euros, a figure that the man naturally refused to pay. To remedy the mess, the owner of the painting decided to turn to a group of professionals who tried to save what could be saved, but the damage was now irreparable.
It is not the first time that such an event has occurred in Spain. A very similar event occurred in 2012, when an elderly parishioner offered to restore the precious fresco. “Ecce homo” by artist Elias Garcia Martinez, which is located on a wall of the church of Borja. Even in that case the result was nothing short of disastrous, so much so that the work in question was nicknamed “Monkey Christ”.
@AP
The reaction of professional restorers
The artistic havoc on Bartolomé Esteban Murillo's masterpiece has sparked a controversy among artists, especially among professional restorers who carry out their work with great care and precision. In this regard, theProfessional Association of Restorers and Conservators (Acre) Spaniards, defining that restoration attempt "an act of vandalism".
“Accidents like the one related to Murillo's painting are much more common than we think. - explains María Borja, vice president of Acre - We often discover them only when people report them to the press or disclose them on social media, but there are so many cases in which the work is carried out by incompetent people "
Unfortunately, however, currently in Spain there are no laws that prohibit anyone, including inexperienced people, from restoring works of art. Harsh the words of the professor Fernando Carrera, della Galician School for the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage, who issued a warning to all art collectors:
“I don't think these people can be called restorers. They destroy works of art. Imagine anyone being able to operate or anyone being allowed to sell unlicensed drugs. Or that someone other than an architect or engineer designs a house. We have seen this kind of thing happen again and again. Paradoxically, they show how important our work is. We need to be sure that the people who carry out these jobs have the right skills ”.
Source: The Guardian/BBC
