By Tim Binnall
Much to the amusement of many people online and the outrage of art enthusiasts the world over, a statue in Spain is turning heads after an attempt at restoring the piece transformed it into a cartoonish monstrosity. The artwork in question reportedly sits on the side of a building in the city of Palencia and was originally created back in 1923 as part of the construction of the site. Nearly a century later, the now-weathered statue apparently needed some care and so a yet-to-be-identified individual set about refurbishing the piece, but wound up wildly botching the job.
The stunning new look for the statue was brought to the world's attention last week when Palencia artist Antonio Guzman Capel posted pictures of the jaw-dropping restoration project on Facebook. Lamenting that the piece now "looks like a cartoon," he mused that "I'm sure whoever did it got paid for it" and argued that "the bigger crime was committed by the person who commissioned it and then tried to carry on as though nothing was wrong."
To that end, attempts to determine who was behind the amateurish work have proven futile and Capel's images of the statue have, understandably, gone viral with many likening the incident to 2012's infamous 'Monkey Jesus' painting restoration. Residents of Palencia may actually wish to embrace such a comparison as the aforementioned 'artwork' became such a sensation that it has become something of a cottage industry for the community where it calls home, drawing thousands of people every year and generating a vast amount of money by way of merchandise sales.