Priceless 17th Century Virgin Mary Painting Botched in Restoration Disaster | 22 Words

In a completely devastating restoration blunder, a priceless 17th-century Virgin Mary painting has been ruined beyond repair and has been left completely unrecognizable.

Keep scrolling for the full story, and to see the "restored" painting for yourself...

If you think you're having a bad day at work...

via: Getty

 You could always be this guy. Someone was given the task of restoring an ancient 17th-century painting and, in the process, they spectacularly ruined the piece beyond repair.

Now, restoring ancient paintings will never be a simple task.

via: Getty

 And the amount of pressure the job brings with it is colossal - repairing and rejuvenating a painting that is hundreds - and sometimes thousands - of years old? It's a no from me.

And, as you can imagine, restoring these paintings can prove to be an incredibly complicated task.

via: Oliver Brothers

 First, the restorer has to evaluate and analyze the level of damage done to a painting.

Then, they will decide on what paints and materials to use in order to repair the piece.

via: Getty

 After this, they are set with the mission to bring the painting back to life, all while ensuring it remains identical to its original state.

Old varnish layers are carefully removed from the piece...

via: Getty

 And a new layer is added before the painter carefully repaints damaged areas.

Some require a little more touching up than others...

via: Getty

 But regardless of the levels of damage, restoration is an incredibly difficult job which requires an awful lot of time, patience, and skill.

And the desired result is the same for all pieces.

via: Oliver Brothers

 Art owners always hope that their paintings will go from looking like this...

To this.

via: Oliver Brothers

 As you can see, the painting still resembles its original state but is visibly much brighter and in an overall better condition.

Now, most restorations end up with the correct result...

via: Wikimedia Commons

 And the owners of the paintings can go away, content with the fact that their piece is restored and potentially even more valuable than before.

However, things don't always go so smoothly.

via: Getty

 Art restorers are only human, after all, and they have been known to make mistakes in the past.

For example...

We all remember when eighty-one-year-old Cecilia Giménez made headlines for her valiant attempt at restoring the ancient Ecce Homo by Elías García Martínez.

The hilarious blunder quickly went viral...

And was even nicknamed "Monkey Christ" by amused social media users.

Heck, people even dressed up as the disastrous restoration.

Yep, it was truly an internet phenomenon.

But now, there's another restoration blunder in town...

And it may just rival the "Monkey Jesus."

A painting by the renowned Spanish artist, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, has gone viral after a furniture restorer was let loose on it.

Yes, a furniture restorer. Working on a valuable 17th-century painting. It's a disaster waiting to happen, isn't it?

Well, disaster certainly did strike.

via: Getty

 The painting, titled “The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables", was owned by a private art collector in Valencia who reportedly paid $1200 to have it repaired. Above, you can see the original piece.

The furniture restorer went to town on the painting...

And the owner was rightfully quite horrified to find that the Virgin Mary’s face had been completely botched upon collection. He reportedly asked for the work to be restored to its original state, but it was only made worse on a second attempt. Above, you can see the stages of the disaster unfolding.

Since the botched painting, experts have been calling for a change in the law.

via: Getty

 Conservation experts in Spain have requested a tightening of laws regarding restoration to prevent people from attempting to restore historic artworks without the skills needed to do so.

But of course, the botched Virgin Mary quickly became a meme...

And the internet has been revelling in the devastating, yet somewhat hilarious blunder.

Some even compared the new Mary to a Karen.

Okay, I can see the resemblance here.

As for the furniture restorer?

Well, it is yet to be confirmed as to whether the person responsible for the painting's destruction has faced any charges. For more on incredible (and undamaged) paintings, keep scrolling to see the unseen portraits by Barack Obama's portrait artist...