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A bungled restoration has leave yet another famed painting unrecognizable .
This time , the refurbishment has provide a picture of the Virgin Mary depend more like a kindergartener ’s lopsided ego - portrait . The picture was a transcript of " The Immaculate Conception of El Escorial , " of the Virgin Mary was one of a notable series by the 17th - century Spanish artist Bartolomé Esteban Murillo . The original variation by Murillo is hanging in the Prado Museum in Madrid , and this copy is probable to be by Murillo as well , according to a statement from the Association of Conservators - Restorers(ACRE ) of Spain . ACRE is an advocacy group that has publicized the screw up artwork as part of an effort to change the rules around restoring paintings in the country .
This is part of the painting “The Immaculate Conception of El Escorial” by the Spanish Baroque artist Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. A copy of this painting, possibly by Murillo himself, was destroyed in a botched restoration attempt.
consort to a Spanish - language account inEuropa Press , the private accumulator who owned the copy lease a furniture refinisher to get up the onetime painting . He regress the painting in an unrecognizable , smudged United States Department of State . After the accumulator complained , the renovator made another attempt to fix the picture , and returned it face even less like the original nontextual matter .
Europa Press note that the incident recalls an earlier , abortive restoration in Spain that famously ruined a fresco of Jesus wearing a crest of thorn and known as the Ecce Homo de Borja ( it was on display in a church in Borja , Spain ) by Cecilia Giménez .
( According toThe Guardian , the wrecked aftermath of the Ecce Homo de Borja , nickname " Monkey Christ , " became a holidaymaker attractive force after the range of a function was share wide on-line . )
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Some in Spain are now calling for tighter rules on the country ’s art refurbishment marketplace .
These sort of mistakes are astonishingly common , María Borja , coordinator of ACRE , recite Europa Press .
" We ’re only intimate with the case that society denounces in the jam or social media , but there are many illustration where people who have no training meddle , " Borja allege .
Borja and her group , ACRE , are highlighting the case as part of an movement to change Spanish law . ACRE want to amend a dominion regularise the manipulation of art to ask that only trained professionals attempt these sort of restorations . ( In fact , ACRE denounces the function of the word " restoration " to describe what was done to the faultless excogitation painting , and instead indicates this was " vandalism . " )
For now though , the circumstance that led to this unfortunate refurbishment are completely effectual , however Murillo collectors might sense .
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