Spanish fresco restoration botched by amateur

You couldn't really make this up...

Apparently an elderly Spanish lady in her 80s recently decided to take it upon herself to restore the damaged fresco of Christ which is housed in her local church in Zaragoza.

I'll let you decide which is the 'before' and which is the 'after restoration' photo.

BBC Europe correspondent Christian Fraser says 

"the delicate brush strokes of (artist) Elias Garcia Martinez have been buried under a haphazard splattering of paint.  The once-dignified portrait now resembles a crayon sketch of a very hairy monkey in an ill-fitting tunic."

To make matters worse, the local centre that works to preserve artworks had just received a donation from the painter's granddaughter which they had planned to use to restore the original fresco.

Guess they reckoned without a feisty granny armed with a ladder, a pot of paint and a large brush.   Step away from the fresco, lady....

Read the full article on the BBC website.