PHOTO: Spanish Woman Who Botched ‘Potato Jesus’ Fresco Restoration Dies

View of the deteriorated version of 'Ecce Homo' mural by 19th century painter Elias Garcia
AP Photo/Javier Vinuela

The Spanish woman who unintentionally botched a fresco of Jesus Christ which was later turned into a well-known meme, has died at the age of 94.

Cecilia Giménez of Borja, Spain, became famous in 2012 after she noticed the painting was fading, the BBC reported Monday, noting the artwork had been inside the Sanctuary of Mercy Church near Zaragoza for over 100 years.

Prior to getting to work on the painting, Giménez asked the priest for permission, but the restoration work resulted in the painting being turned into something entirely different after Giménez, who was also an amateur artist, began layering it with blocks of color, per Artnet.

The outlet said:

Giménez intended to apply finesse to the Savior’s face, but was called away from town before she could finish the job. In the interim, the town’s cultural association uncovered her handiwork. Horrified, it posted before-and-after photographs of the painting to its blog under the headline “An Unspeakable Fact.”

The images of the botched, bulbous Jesus went viral. Within days, they had spread from Reddit to 4Chan to Facebook and Twitter, and finally hit mainstream media.

The botched painting known as Ecce Homo (Behold the Man), was called the “Monkey Christ” meme and also named “Potato Jesus.”

As a result, “The town, which had previously welcomed just 5,000 visitors per year, received more than 40,000 tourists by 2013, and raised more than €50,000 for charity at the time,” the BBC article said.

Video footage from 2012 shows visitors taking pictures of the painting inside the church:

Euro News reported that Giménez was able to open an exhibition of her own paintings and made Borja’s Ecce Homo famous while also becoming a pop phenomenon.

Following her death, the town’s mayor posted on Facebook, “Her infinite generosity is reflected in what we have been able to do thanks to all that Ecce Homo has brought. Rest in peace, Cecilia, we will always remember you.”

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