Idiot of the Week- Furniture Restorer Botches Immaculate Conception painting

This week's idiot is someone who apparently claimed to be able to restore historic and valuable paintings to their full glory. Instead, this "furniture restorer" turned a masterpiece into a kindergarten painting. Here's the story:


Experts call for regulation after latest botched art restoration in Spain
Immaculate Conception painting by Murillo reportedly cleaned by furniture restorer

Conservation experts in Spain have called for a tightening of the laws covering restoration work after a copy of a famous painting by the baroque artist Bartolomé Esteban Murillo became the latest in a long line of artworks to suffer a damaging and disfiguring repair.

A private art collector in Valencia was reportedly charged €1,200 by a furniture restorer to have the picture of the Immaculate Conception cleaned. However, the job did not go as planned and the face of the Virgin Mary was left unrecognizable despite two attempts to restore it to its original state

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s original work (left) and two attempts at restoring it. Photograph: Cedida por Coleccionista/Europa Press 2020

Fernando Carrera, a professor at the Galician School for the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage, said such cases highlighted the need for work to be carried out only by properly trained restorers.

“I don’t think this guy – or these people – should be referred to as restorers,” Carrera told the Guardian. “Let’s be honest: they’re bodgers who botch things up. They destroy things.”

Article: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/jun/22/experts-call-for-regulation-after-latest-botched-art-restoration-in-spain