alas, poor Murillo!

[Paladina]

Experts call for regulation after latest botched art restoration in Spain
https://www.theguardian.com/artandd...t-restoration-in-spain?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

 

[lovingkindness]

Alas pôôr Martinez, too...

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/borja-makes-lemonade-out-of-lemons.39072/

 

[C clearly]

The news article says "a copy of a famous painting by the baroque artist Bartolomé Esteban Murillo became the latest in a long line of artworks to suffer a damaging and disfiguring repair."

Does that mean that Murillo himself made more than one copy? Or was it an old and valuable copy by someone else?

 

[Gadflyparexcellence]

The news article says "a copy of a famous painting by the baroque artist Bartolomé Esteban Murillo became the latest in a long line of artworks to suffer a damaging and disfiguring repair."

Does that mean that Murillo himself made more than one copy? Or was it an old and valuable copy by someone else?

I asked the same question after reading the Guardian article yesterday on Twitter. I've yet to get a response.

 

[Theatregal]

Attached is a statement from the Association of Conservators and Restorers in Spain (ACRE)

 

[David Tallan]

The news article says "a copy of a famous painting by the baroque artist Bartolomé Esteban Murillo became the latest in a long line of artworks to suffer a damaging and disfiguring repair."

Does that mean that Murillo himself made more than one copy? Or was it an old and valuable copy by someone else?

I noticed the same thing.

 

[peregrina2000]

I know that Murillo has made many paintings of the Virgen in this kind of situation, but a little hunting in the Spanish press leads me to think that they are referring to a copy by someone else. This article uses the word “copia” and then says “menos mal que lo era” (thank goodness it was), so it seems likely that the butchered painting was a copy by someone else, not another version by Murillo or his studio.

Un restaurador 'desfigura' una copia de una Inmaculada de Murillo, en Valencia

Una fallida restauración deja hecha un cromo una copia de una 'Inmaculada' de Murillo. El resultado se parece más a la famosa chapuza de Borja que al original

www.diariodenavarra.es

 

[Paladina]

Murillo painted at least twenty Immaculate Conception, all variations on the theme and quite similar, but I don't know if any are strictly identical. It's possible that this was a product of his workshop.

 

[C clearly]

Attached is a statement from the Association of Conservators and Restorers in Spain (ACRE)

For those who haven't clicked on the link the statement makes clear that they do not know anything about the facts behind the "news" story, that the original painting is safe and sound, they think that restoration work should be better regulated, and they are not happy that people are making a joke about it. Fair statement!

 

[Stephan the Painter]

I’ve worked in art restoration. And had some minor training, Although normally I’m working in collaboration with a trained art conservator. There is some regulation in Europe and perhaps other countries, but in the United States there is absolutely no licensing for art conservation. Anybody can just say they can do this. Buyer beware.

My work has been in mostly lesser known churches or government buildings across the central United States. At least three or four times I worked on repairing restorations that were really butchered jobs done by some local “artist.”

This is a bit of a plague, beautiful art being restored by untrained or incompetent individuals. You only hear about the important work that’s destroyed.

I remember seeing the original, “ Beast Jesus,” and laughing my head off. But it’s really sad.

Nobody is explaining whether this is a copy from Murillo’s studio, or something done later. It could be very well be a copy that was done only 100 years ago.