What is it about elderly Catholic priests and their congregations?
Perhaps its just lack of funds, but it seems as though they all fancy themselves as art restorers.
The parish priest in the northern town of Estella in Spain, wanted a 16th-Century wooden wall fresco or sculpture of St George freshened up with a cleaning (or so he now claims).
But he soon discovered, after hiring a local arts and crafts group Karmacolor to perform the task, that you just cant stop the amateurs creative juices flowing. They decided that a fresh lick of paint was just the ticket for the valuable art work ....
Needless to say, the scorn, ridicule and anger at this latest desecration soon poured out ... "What a great loss," "Prison sentences would prevent these attacks on our heritage," are typical of the outrage.
Spanish Cultural officials have blasted the botched attempt as "frightening". "We cannot tolerate more attacks on our cultural heritage," Spain's art conservation association (ACRE) said in a statement. "It shows a frightening lack of training of the kind required for this sort of job." The local council also complained. The town's Mayor told the press that "The council wasn't told and neither was the regional government of Navarre. They've used plaster and the wrong kind of paint and it's possible that the original layers of paint have been lost. This is an expert job it should have been done by experts."
What was wanted was a gentle and sympathetic clean ...
But this catastrophe is not a lone case this year .... in a chapel in El Ranadoiro, Maria Luisa Menendez, a hamlet in northern Spain's Asturias region, a parishioner was allowed by the local priest to paint a set of 15th Century wooden figurines.
The proud vandal told the local press that "I'm not a professional, but I always liked to do it, and the figures really needed to be painted. So I painted them as I could, with the colours that looked good to me, and the neighbours liked it."
The Spanish art conservation association ACRE decried the "continued pillaging in our country" .....
..... However, after you look at what else is in the chapel, it doesn't look too out of place or context.
For once I might have some sympathies with the amateur restorer. It surely looked very much like this when created in the 15th Century, as people liked their wooden statues painted, much like the ancients did.
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| St George Was In Need Of Some TLC .... |
Perhaps its just lack of funds, but it seems as though they all fancy themselves as art restorers.
The parish priest in the northern town of Estella in Spain, wanted a 16th-Century wooden wall fresco or sculpture of St George freshened up with a cleaning (or so he now claims).
 |
| St George After A Lick Of Paint ... |
But he soon discovered, after hiring a local arts and crafts group Karmacolor to perform the task, that you just cant stop the amateurs creative juices flowing. They decided that a fresh lick of paint was just the ticket for the valuable art work ....
Needless to say, the scorn, ridicule and anger at this latest desecration soon poured out ... "What a great loss," "Prison sentences would prevent these attacks on our heritage," are typical of the outrage.
Spanish Cultural officials have blasted the botched attempt as "frightening". "We cannot tolerate more attacks on our cultural heritage," Spain's art conservation association (ACRE) said in a statement. "It shows a frightening lack of training of the kind required for this sort of job." The local council also complained. The town's Mayor told the press that "The council wasn't told and neither was the regional government of Navarre. They've used plaster and the wrong kind of paint and it's possible that the original layers of paint have been lost. This is an expert job it should have been done by experts."
What was wanted was a gentle and sympathetic clean ...
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| St George Lightly Cleaned As Requested or With A Slight Touch Up .... What The Padre Expected? |
But this catastrophe is not a lone case this year .... in a chapel in El Ranadoiro, Maria Luisa Menendez, a hamlet in northern Spain's Asturias region, a parishioner was allowed by the local priest to paint a set of 15th Century wooden figurines.
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| Before And After .....The Paint Job Speaks For Itself |
The proud vandal told the local press that "I'm not a professional, but I always liked to do it, and the figures really needed to be painted. So I painted them as I could, with the colours that looked good to me, and the neighbours liked it."
The Spanish art conservation association ACRE decried the "continued pillaging in our country" .....
 |
| Actually It Doesn't Look Too Out Of Place .... |
..... However, after you look at what else is in the chapel, it doesn't look too out of place or context.
For once I might have some sympathies with the amateur restorer. It surely looked very much like this when created in the 15th Century, as people liked their wooden statues painted, much like the ancients did.
You'd think that given their provenance and function, the fact that they're in god's house, the Holy Spirit could do something for once and divinely protect these holy relics.
ReplyDeleteWhat does the Holy Spirit do all day anyway, apart from confuse everyone as part of the incomprehensible threesome? If not protect these pieces from father time, it could at the very least protect them from father have-a-go.
Father have-a-go, is as we have seen very keen, and also very short of Mammon. So the devilish whispers from the volunteer restorers, which should be resisted as Jesus did in the desert, are often too tempting to ignore.
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