Get Your Premium Membership

Botched Artwork Saves Town

Botched Artwork Saves Town Sometime last year, in late August 2015, something unusual went viral.. It was an ancient picture on the wall, vastly unlike its original art.. A piece of botched artwork, unfinished, and yet all over the world it enthralled.. People, the tourist kind, they made a quick bee line, to see for themselves.. Ecce Homo, a seemingly priceless ancient painting in a church , upon one of its wall.. Time has ravaged its brilliant colours , and its paintwork well flaked off the wall.. One artistic old lady of 83, she took it upon herself to try restore its beauty.. Painstakingly she laboured upon days on end, as expertly as she can.. She meant well, it hurts her artistic soul to see the priceless artwork fade.. She tried her best, but the colours, they ran and it was a difficult task.. She had to go away for a short while, she left behind a half restored art... Someone in church, horrified no doubt, took a picture of it as a matter of fact.. The uploaded picture in the internet, it was shared and quickly it went viral.. Many found it amusing, there was so much scorn, it was soundly ridiculed.. The Ecce *****fresno, or Behold The Man, it now looks like a monkey or a porcupine… A picture of a mournful Jesus is no more, in its place is an artwork that is one of its kind… Poor Cecilia, a widow and amateur painter, she never had a chance to finish her effort.. Her failed restoration effort rocketed around the globe and then a miracle of sorts.. People started thronging to this church in Borja, Spain, it was a pilgrimage of some kind... After the viral picture on the internet, people just had to see and view this new find….. Now that 150,000 visitors have come and gone, Borja is a town rejuvenated and restored.. In this village of medieval palaces and winding lanes, this botched artwork has the town resurrected… All the free publicity from a botched artpiece, it has been a breath of life to the local economy.. God works in mysterious ways, it explains the good fortunes that follows from the smudgy renderings.. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/15/world/a-town-if-not-a-painting-is-restored.html?_r=0

Copyright © | Year Posted 2016




Post Comments

Poetrysoup is an environment of encouragement and growth so only provide specific positive comments that indicate what you appreciate about the poem.

Please Login to post a comment

Date: 2/27/2016 11:13:00 AM
Thank you for sharing the story and moment about a painting revived, by the hands of someone who saw life within. I will look in to the restored painting on the link you provide. Have a great day, Keng.... Linda
Login to Reply
Chuan Seng Avatar
Keng Chuan Seng
Date: 2/27/2016 11:24:00 PM
TQ Linda for reading this miraculous happening... And that phrase about seeing life within... How I wish I had the creative acumen to think of it.. How fitting it would be to justify Cecilia the art lady.. When she took it upon herself to touch up Ecce Homo... Who else had the temerity to try restore this piece of fresno?

Book: Shattered Sighs