🔗 Share this article

The elderly woman from Spain who made international headlines for her poorly executed restoration attempt on a valuable religious painting has passed away at the age 94.

The woman, from the town of Borja in northern Spain, became a global sensation 13 years ago after she attempted to restore a 100-year-old painting known as Ecce Homo located in her parish church.

Giménez's handiwork spread across the internet and earned the moniker "Potato Jesus", because the altered depiction of Christ's head bearing a resemblance to a furry primate.

Local Announcement and Tribute

The nonagenarian's death was announced by Borja's mayor, Eduardo Arilla, in a social media post, where he acknowledged her as a "passionate lover of painting from a very early age".

"Descansa en paz Cecilia, we will always remember you," the mayor posted.

Arilla further referenced Giménez's "famous restoration of Ecce Homo" in August 2012, which "due to the deteriorated condition it presented, Cecilia, acting in good faith, decided to repaint the work over".

The Artwork's Background and the Fateful Act

The Ecce Homo ("Behold the Man" in Latin) painted by nineteenth-century artist Elias Garcia Martinez had resided for over a century in the Santuario de la Misericordia near Zaragoza.

In 2012, Giménez, who was 81 years old, stated that church members had "traditionally fixed everything here", and that she had been given the go-ahead from the local priest to proceed.

She also noted that anybody who came into the Church would have observed she was painting over the original artwork.

An Unexpected Tourist Boom

The aftermath of the repaint job led to the creation of the "Ecce Mono" meme and saw the previously sleepy town of Borja quickly become a major tourist destination.

The municipality, which had in the past seen only five thousand tourists per year, received more than 40,000 tourists by 2013, and generated more than €50,000 for charity from the attention.

Currently, local authorities estimate that between 15,000 and 20,000 tourists visit Borja every year to view the notorious portrait, which is now protected by a protective shield of glass.

Legacy and Community Support

Following the wave of criticism, backed by local residents and others around the world, Giménez went on to stage an exhibition of her paintings showcasing twenty-eight of her personal paintings.

She was praised by the mayor for her kind-hearted nature and decades of faithful service to the church.

Ultimately, what began as a well-intentioned but flawed act of restoration forged an improbable piece of pop culture and provided remarkable tourist revenue to a small Spanish town.