Advertisement

art

Spain has (yet another) new botched restoration

Fiona Govan
Fiona Govan - [email protected]
Spain has (yet another) new botched restoration
The new-look statue of Mary in Rañadoiro an Asturian hamlet near Tineo.

A well-meaning parishioner has become the latest Spaniard to make headlines with a botched restoration job after sprucing up wooden carvings in her local church.

Advertisement

The as yet unnamed resident in the hamlet of Rañadoiro in Spain’s northern region of Asturias chose to paint three wooden carvings – apparently dating from the 15th and 16th centuries - with bright colours.

And bright colours they truly are.

One previously austere plain wooden statue has now been transformed into something that wouldn't look out of place at Disneyland.

Virgin Mary has discarded her usual sombre blue tones for a fuchsia pink headscarf and lipstick to match, while the young Jesus appears in robes of bright green – the colour of Kermit the Frog.  


Before and After: Statue of the Virgin and Child with Santa Ana.

In another statue, the Virgin Mary has been given a makeover to appear more like Barbie, with blonde curls and batted eyelashes adorned in pastel pink and sky blue robes, while her peachy babe-in-arms is clad in warm pink.  


Before and after: The virgin and Child

“I’m not a professional, but the figures were just horrible and I thought a bit of colour would improve him,” the woman, who is one of only 17 residents in the village, told local media.

She reportedly was granted permission from the parish priest to remove the icons from the church before taking them for a lick of paint.

Church authorities have apparently been dispatched to the chapel to survey the damage, according to  La Voz de Asturias.

The latest amateur artist follows in the footsteps of the now infamous Cecilia Giménez, the octogenarian who put the small Aragon town of Borja on the map with her disastrous but highly comical attempt to revamp the local chapel's Ecce Homo in 2012. 

Reluctantly the most famous living artist in Spain she changed the fortunes of the town drawing tens of thousands of visitors to marvel at her artwork and has even inspired an opera.

Earlier this summer, another attempt at statue restoration, this time in Navarra, brought public ridicule, and outrage from heritage experts when a 500-year-old image of Saint George was given a "Tintin" face.

St George or Tintin? The best memes of Spain's latest botched restoration.

 

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also