A disastrous restoration attempt has left a copy of a famous 17th-century painting of the Virgin Mary completely unrecognizable, with art experts now calling for major reforms to Spain's current restoration laws. An unnamed private art collector in Valencia paid a furniture restorer 1,200 euros (approximately $1,350) to clean and restore their copy of "The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables," originally created by renowned baroque artist Bartolomé Esteban Murillo.
The restoration job turned into a complete disaster, with not one but two failed attempts that progressively worsened the artwork's condition. The original painting depicts the Virgin Mary as a full-body portrait, dressed in elegant white and blue robes while standing atop a cloud with small angels at her feet. In Murillo's masterpiece, Mary gazes hopefully toward the heavens with delicate, serene facial features that capture her divine nature.
After the first botched restoration attempt, the Virgin Mary had lost all the intricate details in her flowing hair, and the gentle contours of her face had been distorted to resemble the ghostly figure from Edvard Munch's "The Scream." Most disturbing of all, her refined facial features had been flattened beyond recognition. When the same amateur restorer attempted to fix their mistake in a second try, the results became even worse – this time transforming Mary's face into something that appeared demonic rather than divine.
It remains unclear why the private collector initially trusted their valuable artwork to an unqualified furniture restorer, or why they allowed the same person to attempt a second restoration after the first catastrophic failure. However, according to art restoration experts, such disasters are unfortunately far more common in Spain than most people realize, largely due to inadequate legal protections.
Fernando Carrera, a professor at the Galician School for the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage, argued that this case provides further evidence that art restoration should be legally restricted to properly trained and certified professionals. "Can you imagine just anyone being allowed to operate on other people? Or someone being allowed to sell medicine without a pharmacist's license? Or someone who's not an architect being allowed to put up a building?" Carrera asked, drawing parallels to other regulated professions.
While acknowledging that these comparisons might seem extreme, Carrera emphasized that Spain's laws must ensure art restorations are carried out properly. "I don't think this guy – or these people – should be referred to as restorers," he continued bluntly. "Let's be honest: they're bodgers who botch things up. They destroy things." His harsh words reflect the frustration many professionals feel about the current legal framework.
The root of the problem lies in Spain's current laws regarding art restoration, which surprisingly do not require projects to be performed by certified or trained art restorers. This means that virtually anyone with basic cleaning supplies is legally permitted to work on valuable artworks – a particularly troubling situation for a country with such an incredibly rich artistic heritage spanning multiple centuries.
María Borja, vice president of the Association of Restorers and Conservators (ACRE), condemned the restoration as "an act of vandalism" and revealed that such incidents occur much more frequently than the public realizes. "We only find out about them when people report them to the press or on social media, but there are numerous situations when works are undertaken by people who aren't trained," Borja told Europa Press, the news organization that first broke the story of the disfigured Virgin Mary before it spread globally.
This latest disaster joins a growing list of notorious restoration failures that have plagued Spain in recent years. In 2018, the "Figures of Rañadoiro," a precious 15th-century artwork, was transformed into what critics described as resembling an ugly Christmas ornament after a failed restoration attempt. More recently, in June 2020, the "La Dolorosa de Arucas" sculpture suffered similar damage from unqualified restoration work.
Perhaps the most internationally famous example occurred in 2012, when a century-old painting of Jesus Christ in a small chapel in the Sierra de Moncayo region of northeastern Spain was catastrophically damaged during restoration. The distorted image became globally infamous, earning nicknames like "Monkey Jesus" and "Potato Jesus" due to its barely recognizable appearance. Ironically, the botched artwork eventually became an endearing symbol of religious devotion, partly due to sympathy for the elderly amateur restorer who had attempted the work with good intentions.
Art preservation advocates hope that this latest incident, dubbed "Demonic Mary" by some observers, will finally prompt Spanish authorities to take decisive action. The repeated pattern of destruction has created mounting pressure for legislative reform that would protect the country's invaluable cultural treasures from well-meaning but unqualified individuals. As Spain continues to grapple with preserving its artistic legacy, experts argue that proper legal safeguards are essential to prevent future cultural disasters.
