Friday, December 14, 2012

Ecce Homo 'restorer' auctioning her artwork for charity on eBay

Cecilia Giménez, the Spanish artist who was responsible for the unfortunate 'restoration' of the Ecce Homo fresco in a small town church in Spain, is now auctioning one of her own paintings on eBay for charity.

Digital Journal reported in August on the attempts by Giménez to restore the fresco of Christ in the small church in Borja, Spain. The fresco, 'Ecce Homo', depicting Christ, was originally painted by Elías García Martínez.
Possibly in an effort to make up for this, Giménez is selling her own oil painting "Las Bodegas de Borja" (Borja's Wine Cellar), pictured below, and so far, the bidding is doing well, and has reached 710 euros ($929), more than twice the starting price. The bidding apparently ends on Monday. The canvas is 33 x 22 centimeters and is dated 2000, signed by Giménez in the lower right corner.
Giménez added to the description on eBay that proceeds from the sale of the painting will be for the benefit of the Catholic charity organization Caritas.
Work by Cecilia Giménez   restorer  of Ecce Homo  on eBay
Cecilia Giménez
Work by Cecilia Giménez, "restorer" of Ecce Homo, on eBay
81-year-old Giménez became a media sensation in August after taking it upon herself to restore a fresco of Christ in a church in the northern Spanish agricultural town of Borja. She unfortunately ruined the original, as can be seen below.
 Ecce Homo  - botched restoration by Cecilia Giménez.
Centro de Estudios Borjanos
'Ecce Homo' - botched restoration by Cecilia Giménez.
However, her attempts soon became notorious worldwide, with entrepreneurs launching sales of souvenirs and t-shirts with the images of Giménez’s work. While the original name of the fresco is "Ecco Homo" (behold the man), Twitter users redubbed it "Ecce Mono" ("Behold the Monkey").
The fresco itself became a popular tourist attraction prompting the use of the picture on t-shirts, wine labels and souvenirs.
In September, Giménez's lawyers stated that she has no interest in a share of the tourism windfall her work has brought to her northeastern Spanish town.
Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/339031

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