Cecilia Giménez, the Spanish lady whose botched restoration of a century-old portray of Jesus Christ captured international headlines greater than a decade in the past, has died. She was 94.
Officers in Borja, northeastern Spain, confirmed Giménez’s demise on Fb. Mayor Eduardo Arilla advised a neighborhood newspaper she died in a nursing dwelling, The New York Occasions reported.
The inspiration that manages the church in Borja the place the “Ecce Homo” fresco is displayed mentioned she was a terrific lover of portray from a younger age. The inspiration referred to as her “some of the well-known figures of 2012” and famous that she had, “with one of the best intentions, determined to repaint” the fresco on the Sanctuary of Mercy Church due to its poor situation.
AP Photograph/Javier Vinuela
Giménez’s try left Christ’s face cartoonish and unrecognizable, sparking a flood of on-line reactions, memes, and parodies that includes well-known figures similar to Michael Jackson and Homer Simpson.
Her restoration added what seemed to be a mane to the determine of Christ, main the small portray by native artist Elias Garcia Martinez, created within the 1910s, to be nicknamed the “Monkey Christ.”
On the time, Giménez acknowledged the injury, however she advised a state-run broadcaster that the parish priest licensed the restoration.
“The priest knew! He did! How may we do one thing like that with out permission? He knew,” Giménez mentioned. “All people who got here into the church may see me as I used to be portray. I did not do something secretly.”
AP Photograph/Javier Vinuela 
The controversy rapidly turned Borja right into a vacationer vacation spot, with about 57,000 guests coming to see the beforehand little-known church the next yr.
When the controversy subsided, supporters helped Giménez placed on an artwork exhibition that includes 28 of her personal work, CBS Information companion BBC Information reported.
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