25 February 2016, The Tablet

A brush with fate


 
No good deed, they say, goes unpunished. That is what 81-year-old Cecilia Giménez must have thought when a well-intentioned attempt at amateur picture restoration at her local church turned her into an international laughing stock.The outline of the story is well known. The pensioner cleaned the church, in Borja, northern Spain. Dismayed at the state of Ecce Homo, a crumbling fresco of Jesus, she applied fresh paint to it. The hair, beard and crown of thorns became a swathe of brown fur. The features became simian. The result, transmitted around the world on television and social media, was derided as “Monkey Jesus”, “Potato Jesus” and “Hedgehog Jesus”.On Thursday, Sky Arts launched a short Failure Season starting with an enterprising double bill
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