24th
WTF ART VANDALS?
by Chuck McCarthy
Published: August 20, 3035
MADRID- A case of suspected vandalism in a church in a northeastern village in Spain has turned out to be probably the best art restoration project of all time.
A team of art historians and fresco restoration experts stepped forward this week to claim responsibility for disfiguring an millennium-old “ecce homo” fresco of Jesus crowned with thorns, in Santuario de la Misericordia, a Roman Catholic church in Borja, near the city of Zaragoza.
The ecce homo, or behold the man, fresco of Jesus by famed Spanish artist Cecilia Giménez, turns out to have been a botched art restoration project in and of its self.
The team lead by famed art historian Tonnysius Bolt said on Spanish national television that they had wanted to restore the Giménez fresco, which he called his favorite early 21st century representation of Jesus, because he was upset that parts of it had oxidized and decayed due to moisture and radiation on the church’s walls, but they were shocked to discover that the Giménez fresco was actually covering up this original fresco.
The authorities in Borja said they had suspected vandalism at first, but then determined that the shocking alterations had been made by a well meaning team of experts.
The Giménez Foundation For The Arts has yet to release an official statement, but sources within the organization have suggested that they will pursue both criminal and civil legal channels to punish those responsible for the destruction of their namesake’s greatest work.
