Botched restoration: experts don’t know whether to laugh or cry

THE botched restoration of a sculpture in Palencia, has once again put Spain in the press for its less than perfect art work, and experts don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

The 20th century sculpture, on one of the city’s most emblematic and visited buildings, which houses the central office of Unicaja, has become the latest example of a questionable restoration job, and having gone unnoticed until now, has received many complaints.

The building, in Calle Mayor, was opened in 1923 and has religious images on the outside.

The face of what was a smiling shepherdess has now become a popular image to take a picture of, and it is the brunt of jokes both locally and across the web.

Artist Antonio Guzman Capel shared images of the restoration, saying that it now looked like a cartoon character. He believes the head came off the sculpture and it was later ‘repaired’.

Professional artists and restoration workers are either up in arms or splitting their sides with laughter over the botched job. Locals are outraged

This comes following a similarly poor restoration of a painting of the Virgin Mary in Valencia this year. Experts have called for stricter regulations regarding people being allowed to restore artwork.

The first renowned example of such a job was back in 2012, when the quiet town of Borja became a media sensation after a local resident in her eighties attempted to restore a painting of Christ, the Ecce Homo, which has become the generic name with which such unfortunate outcomes are known.


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Written by

Jennifer Leighfield

Jennifer Leighfield, born in Salisbury, UK; resident in Malaga, Spain since 1989. Degree in Translation and Interpreting in Spanish, French and English from Malaga University (2005), specialising in Crime, Forensic Medicine and Genetics. Published translations include three books by Richard Handscombe. Worked with Euro Weekly News since November 2006. Well-travelled throughout Spain and the rest of the world, fan of Harry Potter and most things ‘geek’.

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