Ecce Homo

In 2012, a small amateur restoration carried out in a Spanish church suddenly becomes one of the most commented artistic events in the world. A parishioner over 80 years old attempts to revive a fresco representing Christ in the sanctuary of Borja. The result almost entirely transforms the original face. In a few days, the image circulates everywhere on the internet and becomes a global cultural phenomenon.

The Ecce Homo fresco was located in the sanctuary of Mercy of Borja, in Spain. Produced in the early 20th century by Elías García Martínez, it represented Christ crowned with thorns according to classical religious iconography.

Over time, humidity and degradations strongly weaken the mural painting. Cecilia Giménez, an elderly parishioner regularly frequenting the church, then undertakes to restore the work with the informal agreement of local officials. The problem comes from the technique used. The original paint layers were already very deteriorated and the touch-ups progressively modify the volumes of the face. After interruption of the work, the partially repainted fresco is photographed then disseminated on the internet.

The worldwide reaction is immediate. The image becomes viral in a few days and provokes as much mockery as fascination. Some media then nickname the painting "Monkey Christ" because of the simplified appearance of the face. But the story quickly takes a more complex turn. The sanctuary of Borja suddenly receives tens of thousands of visitors come to see the restored fresco. Local tourism explodes and the work becomes an object of study on the digital circulation of images.

The affair also reveals an important question in conservation: from what moment does a restoration so modify a work that it becomes something else? In the case of Borja, the accidental transformation ended up producing a new autonomous image, detached from the original fresco but having become culturally much more famous than it.