LE MONDE, FRANCE TV INFO (France), EL PAIS (Spain)
The 80-year-old Spanish woman responsible for what some are calling history's worst restoration of a work of art spoke out in the media on Wednesday to defend her actions.
Cecilia Gimenez, a loyal parishioner at the church in Borja, Saragossa Province, had taken it upon herself to restore Ecce Homo, a 19th century mural of Jesus Christ, according to Le Monde. Witness the devastating results below.
"We've always fixed everything ourselves in this church. The priest asked me to do it, he knew. How could I have done it without his permission?" Mrs. Gimenez told Spanish television, according to France TV Info.
A professional team of art restorers is going to examine the mural in the next few days in order to determine what can be salvaged.
The failed renovation was first revealed in early August by the Borja Studies Center on its blog, according to El País, which titled "The restoration that turned into destruction."
Twitter users were quick to parody the restoration by imagining other classical artistic masterpieces renovated by the Spanish octogenarian.
La Última Cena restaurada por Cecilia Giménez... twitter.com/vicentmolins/s…
— Vicent Molins (@vicentmolins) August 23, 2012
Última hora: Cecilia Giménez mete brochazo a la Gioconda porque "esa señora estaba muy seria" twitpic.com/amkkt2 vía
— Paloma Iraizoz (@palomairaizoz) August 22, 2012@joseluisollo
