Experts call for regulation after latest botched art restoration in Spain

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Conservation experts in Spain have called for a tightening of the laws covering restoration work after a copy of a famous painting by the baroque artist Bartolomé Esteban Murillo became the latest in a long line of artworks to suffer a damaging and disfiguring repair.

A private art collector in Valencia was reportedly charged €1,200 to have the picture of the Immaculate Conception cleaned by a furniture restorer.

However, the job did not go as quite as planned and the face of the Virgin Mary was left unrecognisable despite two attempts to restore it to its original state.

The case has inevitably resulted in comparisons with the infamous “Monkey Christ” incident eight years ago when a devout parishioner’s attempt to restore a painting of the scourged Christ on the wall of a church on the outskirts of the north-eastern Spanish town of Borja made headlines around the world.

Parallels have also been drawn with the botched restoration of a 16th-century polychrome statue of Saint George and the dragon in northern Spain that left the warrior saint resembling Tintin or a Playmobil figure.

Fernando Carrera, a professor at the Galician School for the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage, said such cases highlighted the need for work to be carried out only by properly trained restorers.

“I don’t think this guy – or these people – should be referred to as restorers,” Carrera told the Guardian. “Let’s be honest: they’re bodgers who botch things up. They destroy things.”

Carrera, a former president of Spain’s Professional Association of Restorers and Conservators (Acre), said the law currently allowed people to engage in restoration projects even if they lacked the necessary skills.

“Can you imagine just anyone being allowed to operate on other people? Or someone being allowed to sell medicine without a pharmacist’s licence? Or someone who’s not an architect being allowed to put up a building?”

While restorers were “far less important than doctors”, he added, the sector sill needed to be strictly regulated for the sake of Spain’s cultural history.

“We see this kind of thing time and time again and yet it keeps on happening,” said Carrera.

“Paradoxically, it shows just how important professional restorers are. We need to invest in our heritage, but even before we talk about money, we need to make sure that the people who undertake this kind of work have been trained in it.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/experts-call-for-regulation-after-latest-botched-art-restoration-in-spain/ar-BB15QpZV?OCID=ansmsnnews11

[BusyBeingBest]

1. LOL--looks like someone took the opportunity to make

Mary look like a family member. What's up with Spain and botched art restoration? Weird.

[dalton99a]

2. Professional grade

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5266295/Family-shares-results-hilarious-photo-shoot.html
Family shares hilarious results of $250 'professional' shoot after embarrassed photographer admits she was never taught how to retouch images

[coti]

4. My God, that's some of the creepiest shit I've ever seen nt

[greenjar_01]

3. Oh boy...

[Bayard]

5. a furniture restorer.......

I blame the owner for hiring an obviously unqualified person. Wonder if a, "restored" painting can be restored?

[frazzled]

6. Why would anyone take their 17th century Murillo

To a furniture restorer? This was an irresponsible act in the first place. Art restoration is a highly skilled profession, and I’m sure there were plenty of accredited restoration artists to choose from.

I think the owner of this work is as guilty as the sham restorer.