The elderly woman from Spain who achieved global fame for her infamous repair job on a valuable religious painting has died at the age 94.
The woman, from the town of Borja in northern Spain, rose to prominence 13 years ago after she attempted to repaint a 100-year-old painting titled Ecce Homo located in her local church.
Giménez's handiwork spread across the internet and was dubbed "Potato Jesus", largely due to the resulting likeness of Christ's head bearing a resemblance to a furry primate.
Official Announcement and Homage
The 94-year-old's death was announced by Borja's mayor, Eduardo Arilla, via an online statement, where he acknowledged her as a "passionate lover of painting from a very early age".
"Rest in peace Cecilia, we will always remember you," Arilla wrote.
Arilla further referenced Giménez's "famous restoration of Ecce Homo" in August 2012, which "because of the poor state of conservation it was in, Cecilia, with the best intentions, chose to apply new paint over the original".
The Painting's Background and the Fateful Intervention
The Ecce Homo ("This is the Man" in Latin) painted by nineteenth-century painter Elias Garcia Martinez had resided for more than a century in the Santuario de la Misericordia close to Zaragoza.
In 2012, Giménez, then 81, explained that church members had "traditionally fixed everything here", and that she had received permission from the parish priest to do the work.
She added at the time that anyone who came into the Church would have observed she was applying paint to the original image.
A Surprising 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 significant tourist destination.
The town, which had previously welcomed just five thousand visitors per year, attracted over 40,000 tourists by 2013, and generated over €50,000 for charity from the attention.
Currently, local authorities say that somewhere around 15,000 and 20,000 tourists visit Borja each year to see the notorious portrait, which is now displayed behind a pane of glass.
Legacy and Community Support
After recovering from the initial backlash, backed by the townspeople and others around the world, Giménez went on to stage an exhibition of her paintings featuring 28 of her own works.
She was commended by Borja's mayor for her kind-hearted nature and decades of dedication to the church.
Ultimately, what began as a sincere but unsuccessful art repair created an improbable piece of pop culture and provided remarkable attention and resources to a humble Spanish town.
