Spanish-born Parishioner Who Found Notoriety for Mishandling a Prized Painting Restoration Has Died at the Age of 94
The elderly woman from Spain who made international headlines for her infamous repair job on a valuable religious painting has passed away at the age 94.
Cecilia Giménez, from the town of Borja in northeast Spain, rose to prominence thirteen years ago after she attempted to restore a 100-year-old painting known as Ecce Homo housed within her parish church.
Giménez's restoration effort spread across the internet and was dubbed "Monkey Christ", largely due to the resulting likeness of Christ's head bearing a resemblance to a furry primate.
Official Announcement and Tribute
The 94-year-old's death was confirmed by the town's mayor, Eduardo Arilla, via an online statement, where he described her as a "passionate lover of painting from a very early age".
"Rest in peace Cecilia, your memory will live on with us," the mayor posted.
Arilla also paid tribute to Giménez's "famous restoration of Ecce Homo" in August 2012, which "because of the poor state of conservation it presented, Cecilia, with the best intentions, chose to apply new paint over the original".
The Artwork's Background and the Fateful Act
The Ecce Homo ("Behold the Man" in Latin) by nineteenth-century painter Elias Garcia Martinez had been held for more than a hundred years in the Santuario de la Misericordia close to Zaragoza.
At the time, Giménez, then 81, explained that church members had "always repaired everything here", and that she had received permission from the local priest to do the work.
She added at the time that anybody who came into the Church would have observed she was painting over the existing image.
A Surprising Economic Lifeline
The aftermath of the repaint job spawned the "Ecce Mono" meme and saw the once quiet town of Borja quickly become a major tourist destination.
The town, which had in the past welcomed just five thousand visitors per year, received more than 40,000 tourists by 2013, and generated more than €50,000 for charity from the attention.
Today, local authorities estimate that between 15,000 and 20,000 tourists travel to Borja each year to view the famous painting, which is now displayed behind a protective shield of glass.
Later Life and Local Support
After recovering from the wave of criticism, backed by local residents and others globally, Giménez went on to stage an art exhibition featuring twenty-eight of her own works.
She was praised by Borja's mayor for her generosity and decades of faithful service to the church.
Ultimately, what began as a sincere but unsuccessful act of restoration forged an improbable piece of pop culture and provided unprecedented tourist revenue to a humble Spanish town.
