Art experts around the world have been horrified by an elderly Spanish woman attempts to restore a 19th century masterpiece by Elias Garcia Martinez’s Ecce Homo.

An elderly Spanish woman has destroyed a 19th-century Spanish fresco in a botched restoration conducted without permission.

The well-intentioned but amateur artist, in her 80s, took it upon herself to fill in the patches and paint over the original work, Ecce Homo painted by Elias Garcia Martinez which depicted Jesus Christ crowned with thorns, his sorrowful gaze lifted to heaven.

Her work done, the ‘ restored ‘ Jesus Christ figure looks somewhat like a monkey with fur surrounding a pale face and a child-like drawing of eyes, a cartoon-style nose and a crooked smudge for a mouth.

Painting titled ‘ Ecce Homo ‘ (Behold the Man), the original was no masterpiece, painted in 2 hours in 1910 by a certain Elias Garcia Martinez directly on a column in the church at Borja, northeastern Spain.

Spanish fresco ruined by 80-year-old woman

It showed its age, too, with humidity in the Iglesia del Santuario de Misericordia gradually eating away at patches of paint. But the new version has become a national joke, reminiscent of fictional film character Mr. Bean’s comic attempt to restore Whistler’s Mother after he sneezes on it and mistakenly wipes off the face.

The damage was discovered after Elias Garcia Martinez’s granddaughter made a donation to the Centro de Estudios Borjanos which holds an archive of local religious artworks, a couple of weeks ago.

Watch how Mr. Bean destroys another masterwork painting

[media id=608 width=610 height=340]

Staff then went to check on the work at the Santuario de Misericodia church in Borja, near Zaragoza in north eastern Spain, only to find it dramatically altered.

A centre church spokesman said : ‘ The value of the original work was not very high, it was more of sentimental value. The fresco was by Elias Garcia Martinez, who is the father of two well-known artists. The lady acted without authorisation from anyone. The church is always open because many people visit and although there is a guard, no one realised what the old woman was doing until she had finished. ‘

A team of professionals will assess the Jesus Christ fresco next week to see if it can be saved. One theory is that the patches are the result of the woman scraping away the paint.

[adrotate banner=”28″]