In Spain, where art restoration is largely unregulated, a few restoration attempts in the last decade have left artwork more than a little worse than when they began. If you haven’t seen these images yet, prepare yourself. You may struggle with balancing a desire to laugh with feelings of profound sadness.
The most recent restoration fiasco involves a copy of Murillo’s Baroque painting The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables. The piece was taken to a furniture restorer for cleaning (already a bit of a red flag). The cleaner made two attempts to restore the painting, but, as you can see, it didn’t quite work out.
But, unfortunately, this isn’t the first time art has been marred by these kinds of “restorations.” Here are a couple of the most famous unsuccessful attempts at art restorations in Spain:
The Murillo mishap has led to renewed calls for Spain to start more carefully regulating the restoration of artwork. While the Murillo painting was in a private collection, both the Ecce Homo fresco and the St. George statue reside in Spanish churches.
Curious about how art restoration actually works? Check out this article.
See more art news from RedDotBlog: https://reddotblog.com/category/art-news/
This makes me want to reach for a glass of wine … or a handkerchief to cry into.