That was my initial thought when I saw the pictures, but I think it’s just that the picture on the left is from a lower angle and the picture on the right is a higher angle. The faces look more elongated on the right, but I think it’s just perspective. I otherwise couldn’t find any definitive feature that would identify them as two different statutes.
Man, people sure dressed strange back then.
Anyone remember when Sheik Mohammad Al-Fassi painted the statues in his Beverly Hills mansion flesh tone, with pubic hair? Link.
Artist Unknown
Lesbian Couple with Captured Leprechaun, c. 1480
Tempera paint on oak
One thing we may fail to see from our outsider position, is that to many in these communities these objects are not historic legacy museum pieces, they are their everyday devotional decoration and they are not really interested in curatorial preservation. They don’t particularly care to bring in some academic who’ll charge a lot, make it look clean but still old-fashioned, and tell them they have to stay ten feet away or keep it behind glass.
Which in turn would disturbingly favor mhendo’s hypothesis…
…that this is becoming a form of on-scene “clickbait”. Because in parts of Europe, having 600 year old religious art by itself just makes you the same as the next village over.
I want to know how the artist applied the Krylon so perfectly, with no overspray.
15th century or not, it’s was a crap sculpture. If I found either version of it on the street, i’d think some guy picked it up at the last gas-station before his house when he realized he forgotten to get a gift from his trip.
Not much worse than the original. The carvings have pronounced upper eyelids making them look freaky even in the original. In fact the work doesn’t look like it’s centuries old. I see really old wooden works and the wood is usually darkened with no hint of grain or anything. A fake.
I don’t know how much the church paid just 15 years ago to have the statues professionally restored, but I find it hard to believe the statues needed “freshening up” so soon, particularly the wooden one, which had never been painted. Maybe some local folks wanted the wooden statue painted in the same way Ted Turner wanted black-and-white movies colorized, and the last restorers refused because that wouldn’t be restoring anything. But why would church officials take such care to hire pros the first time (and have the locals OK the restoration plans in advance) and then give this local amateur carte blanche makes no sense to me.
Charitably speaking, this piece is what hot-rodders call a “resto-mod.”
For truly horrific religious art restoration I give you “Ecco Mono” (Behold the Monkey). This fresco fiasco is also mentioned in the story the OP linked to.
I always thought I’d be a terrible painter, now I know there are people who are worse. Cant she be charged with accidental vandalism? Or maybe crimes against Christ’s visage?
Was the Jesus, Mary and Joseph restoration inspired by The Simpsons?