"Very few of us find fame quite as late, or quite as brutally, as Cecilia Gimenez did in the summer of 2012. The Spanish amateur artist was already 81 when her efforts to restore a decent, if unremarkable, fresco of the scourged Christ brought her a renown that almost destroyed her. Almost overnight, Gimenez, who died on Monday at the age of 94, was stripped of her quiet existence in the north-eastern Spanish town of Borja,"
"There was, however, more to that summer's events in Borja's Santuario de Misericordia than the initial reports including my own suggested. Gimenez, who was married in the church, had already spent two decades tending to the fresco, trying to protect it against the ravages of time and water damage."
"Reporters told the world the story of the old woman who couldn't paint and had ruined a painting, Gimenez told the Guardian in 2015. That's not true. It is true that I haven't done many portraits. But if it hadn't been for me, the painting would have probably disappeared long ago. By then, though, the damage was already done. Stressed and embarrassed, she lost a lot of weight as she worried about the consequences of her well-meaning actions,"
An 81-year-old Spanish amateur, Cecilia Gimenez, attempted to restore a fresco of the scourged Christ in 2012 and triggered a viral phenomenon known as Monkey Christ. The restoration brought sudden fame and ridicule that disrupted her quiet life in Borja and caused significant personal stress. Gimenez had spent two decades caring for the fresco and was only midway through restoration when she left on a short holiday and coverage escalated. Reporters exaggerated the story, but Gimenez maintained that without her efforts the painting likely would have disappeared. She died at age 94.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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