# Jesus, Mary and Joseph that's bad restoration! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 7, 2018, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-mary-and-joseph-thats-bad-restoration/820978 "2018-09-07T21:48:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-mary-and-joseph-thats-bad-restoration/820978/1 "2018-09-07T21:48:57Z")
[We have another antique artwork “restored” by a complete nitwit here](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45455125). ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-mary-and-joseph-thats-bad-restoration/820978/2 "2018-09-07T22:02:10Z")
And the Taliban just blow their shit up. I’m not sure which is worse. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-mary-and-joseph-thats-bad-restoration/820978/3 "2018-09-07T22:04:38Z")
I’m going with the Taliban here. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-mary-and-joseph-thats-bad-restoration/820978/4 "2018-09-07T22:13:01Z")
Eh, at least it’s just a crappy paint job. In a hundred years it’ll wear off and we can try again. It did remind me of the garishly painted reproductions of polychromed Greek and Roman statuary and architecture. Yeah, the Ancient Greeks didn’t keep their statues white, they painted them purty like Mexican folk art. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-mary-and-joseph-thats-bad-restoration/820978/5 "2018-09-07T22:57:05Z")
I’d be hiring someone to remove the paint immediately, and ordering a couple of hundred really nice paint-by-numbers sets for the painter. Those plus a restraining order. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-mary-and-joseph-thats-bad-restoration/820978/6 "2018-09-07T22:58:47Z")
I’m not sure it’s fair to call it a bad restoration unless there’s evidence of what it looked like originally. Better to say the restoration doesn’t meet modern expectations. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-mary-and-joseph-thats-bad-restoration/820978/7 "2018-09-07T23:24:37Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > I’m not sure it’s fair to call it a bad restoration unless there’s evidence of what it looked like originally. Better to say the restoration doesn’t meet modern expectations. Side-by-side before/after photos were given. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-mary-and-joseph-thats-bad-restoration/820978/8 "2018-09-07T23:25:11Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > I’m not sure it’s fair to call it a bad restoration unless there’s evidence of what it looked like originally. Better to say the restoration doesn’t meet modern expectations. Is there not a picture of before and after there? I see two photos. I have to say, there’s something about the garish colors in the restoration that actually appeals to me. But I sure as shit wouldn’t do that with a historical piece of art. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-mary-and-joseph-thats-bad-restoration/820978/9 "2018-09-07T23:33:38Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Is there not a picture of before and after there? I see two photos. I have to say, there’s something about the garish colors in the restoration that actually appeals to me. But I sure as shit wouldn’t do that with a historical piece of art. Yes, before and after, but not an _original_–how it looked when it was first created. ---
**Author:** ![Map\_Ylow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/map_ylow/32/85_2.png) [@Map\_Ylow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Map_Ylow)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-mary-and-joseph-thats-bad-restoration/820978/10 "2018-09-07T23:37:08Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I have to say, there’s something about the garish colors in the restoration that actually appeals to me. But I sure as shit wouldn’t do that with a historical piece of art. Likewise. The colors aren’t unpleasant, and on anything else I think they’d be quite nice. Perhaps there ought to be guidelines for this sort of thing, if they’re going to hire any Tom, Dick or Mary to do the job instead of a professional restorer? (I assume there _is_ such a profession?) ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-mary-and-joseph-thats-bad-restoration/820978/11 "2018-09-08T00:30:56Z")
The way little Jesus has his hand out there, it seems like someone should put a bunch of balloons on a string into his hand. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-mary-and-joseph-thats-bad-restoration/820978/12 "2018-09-08T00:41:59Z")
Fuck, I’da Chromed it! ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-mary-and-joseph-thats-bad-restoration/820978/13 "2018-09-08T00:47:21Z")
I know varnish comes in different colors, but this is ridiculous! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-mary-and-joseph-thats-bad-restoration/820978/14 "2018-09-08T00:52:06Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > Yes, before and after, but not an _original_–how it looked when it was first created. I would assume it was very much like the unpainted one, unless I’m not understanding your point. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-mary-and-joseph-thats-bad-restoration/820978/15 "2018-09-08T01:13:11Z")
A better article [here.](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/07/mary-and-jesus-given-garish-robes-in-botched-spanish-restoration) > [@](#): > > Although the statues were sympathetically – and professionally – restored 15 years ago, one local resident apparently obtained the parish priest’s permission to freshen them up over the summer. The previous professional restorer says > [@](#): > > …we managed to recover bits of the original paint on two of the statues – 50% or 60% – but one had never been painted. > > They’ve used the kind of industrial enamel paint they sell for painting anything and absolutely garish and absurd colours,” Luis Suárez Saro told the Guardian. “The result is just staggering. You don’t know whether to laugh or cry. It’s a travesty. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-mary-and-joseph-thats-bad-restoration/820978/16 "2018-09-08T02:21:09Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > It did remind me of the garishly painted reproductions of polychromed Greek and Roman statuary and architecture. Yeah, the Ancient Greeks didn’t keep their statues white, they painted them purty like Mexican folk art. Yes, but those were usually works by competent artists who seem to have known what they were doing, based on reconstructions. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-mary-and-joseph-thats-bad-restoration/820978/17 "2018-09-08T02:50:21Z")
If I was gonna be religious that would be my favorite statue at church. I would go every Sunday and I would tithe. Yes , I would. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-mary-and-joseph-thats-bad-restoration/820978/18 "2018-09-08T05:01:20Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > [We have another antique artwork “restored” by a complete nitwit here](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45455125). The person who did this wasn’t a nitwit. I’ll bet dollars to donuts that it was a carefully considered, completely intentional, and rather cynical attempt to attract attention. The town of the original botched restoration [benefited from a massive rise in tourism](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/so-bad-it-was-brilliant-botched-fresco-restoration-answers-spanish-town-s-prayers-with-tourism-boom-8762069.html) after it gained worldwide notoriety. > [@](#): > > A year on, the Misericordia estimates 57,000 tourists from all over Europe, Latin America, Australia, China and Japan have been to see the fresco and between them dropped some €50,000 (£43,000) in the collection box. > > That compares with just 6,000 visits a year to the local religious art museum, one of more than 20 historical and cultural monuments in Borja. The donations have been used to employ attendants at the church and to fund the Sancti Spiritus foundation, which runs an old people’s home. > > The visitors have also made cash registers sing in restaurants, cafés and cake shops, leading local businesses to see the very marketable brand on their hands. In October, a regional vineyard had launched a special Ecce Homo line of young wine from the recent harvest. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-mary-and-joseph-thats-bad-restoration/820978/19 "2018-09-08T06:55:52Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > I’m not sure it’s fair to call it a bad restoration unless there’s evidence of what it looked like originally. Better to say the restoration doesn’t meet modern expectations. Sure we can. The painter admitted she just used colors she liked, meaning she wasn’t even trying to make it look like the original. That makes it a bad restoration job, no matter how close it looks to the original. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-mary-and-joseph-thats-bad-restoration/820978/20 "2018-09-08T08:28:45Z")
Are you sure those are the same statues? The faces of the “restored” figures on the right look much longer than those on the left. That could be down to camera lens effects I suppose, but I’m suspicious. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-mary-and-joseph-thats-bad-restoration/820978.md?page=2)