To possess a priceless piece of art is a luxury many of us will never experience.
When the owner of an original painting by famed baroque artist Bartolome Esteban Murillo decided to have it restored, he paid a price higher than anticipated.
According to UPI, the owner of The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables paid good money to have his painting cleaned by a furniture restorer, but it came back ruined.
This is not the first time such sacrilege has taken place and won’t be the last, according to a professor at the Galician School for the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage, Fernando Carrera.
Mr Carrera, also former president of Spain’s Professional Association of Restorers and Conservators, has called for regulation of the restoration industry.
“I don’t think this guy – or these people – should be referred to as restorers,” Mr Carrera told the Guardian.
“Let’s be honest: They’re bodgers who botch things up. They destroy things.”
The Royal Academy of Arts has taken a different approach.
Considering the ‘restoration’ of The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables a disaster, the Academy took to Twitter to find an amateur artist who could “do a better job” than the restorer.
Tweet from @royalacademy
And the results were truly spectacular.
Nay, immaculate.
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