🔗 Share this article Spanish Woman Who Found Notoriety for Botching a Prized Painting Repair Has Died at Age 94 The restoration of the Ecce Homo fresco. The Spanish parishioner who made international headlines for her poorly executed repair job on a valuable religious painting has died at the age of 94. Cecilia Giménez, from the town of Borja in northern Spain, became a global sensation thirteen years ago after she attempted to repaint a 100-year-old fresco known as Ecce Homo located in her local church. Giménez's restoration effort spread across the internet and was dubbed "Potato Jesus", largely due to the altered likeness of Christ's head looking somewhat like a furry primate. Local Announcement and Homage The 94-year-old's death was announced by the town's mayor, Eduardo Arilla, in a social media post, where he acknowledged her as a "great enthusiast of painting from a young age". "Descansa en paz Cecilia, we will always remember you," the mayor posted. Arilla also paid tribute to Giménez's "now-legendary restoration of Ecce Homo" in the summer of 2012, which "because of the deteriorated condition it was in, Cecilia, acting in good faith, chose to apply new paint over the original". The Artwork's Background and the Now-Infamous Intervention The Ecce Homo ("This is the Man" in Latin) painted by 19th century artist Elias Garcia Martinez had been held for over a century in the Sanctuary of Mercy Church close to Zaragoza. At the time, Giménez, who was 81 years old, explained that parishioners had "always repaired everything here", and that she had received permission from the parish priest to proceed. She also noted that anybody who entered the Church would have seen she was applying paint to the original artwork. A Surprising Economic Lifeline The aftermath of the restoration led to the creation of the "Ecce Mono" meme and saw the previously sleepy town of Borja rapidly turn into a significant tourist destination. The municipality, which had previously seen only 5,000 visitors per year, received over 40,000 tourists by 2013, and managed to raise more than €50,000 for charity from the interest. Today, officials say that somewhere around 15,000 and 20,000 tourists travel to Borja each year to see the notorious portrait, which is now protected by a pane of glass. Legacy and Community Admiration Following the wave of criticism, backed by the townspeople and others around the world, Giménez went on to stage an art exhibition featuring 28 of her personal paintings. She was praised by the mayor for her generosity and years of faithful service to the church. Ultimately, what began as a sincere but flawed art repair forged an unlikely piece of pop culture and brought unprecedented tourist revenue to a humble Spanish town.