Artist Behind Viral ‘Beast Jesus’ Restoration Dies at 94

Cecilia Giménez Zueco—the lady behind Beast Jesus, the idiosyncratic try at artwork restoration that grew to become an web sensation in mid-2012—has died, just some days wanting her 95th birthday.

Giménez grew to become well-known for her try at restoring Ecce Homo, a fresco by Spanish painter Elías García Martínez. Martinez painted the picture of Jesus in a crown of thorns straight onto the wall of the church within the small city of Borja, Zaragoza, someday round 1930. By the early 2010s, it was in a sorry state, with the city’s humid ambiance leading to peeling paint and visual injury. Dismayed by the state of the work, Giménez made the fateful resolution to take it upon herself to revive it to its former glory in 2012.

The outcome—which you’ll know as Monkey Jesus, Potato Jesus, or Ecce Mono—gave rise to a thousand memes, together with some surprisingly earnest art criticism. In 2026, the entire affair seems like a throwback to a distinct, extra harmless time on the web, a time when Fb statuses nonetheless began with “is” and Twitter was a spot for posting inane updates about your cat, not an ongoing international Nuremberg rally. Even the worldwide hilarity on the portray itself feels much less mean-spirited than one would possibly count on right now, and whereas poor Giménez was clearly distraught on the response, claiming that the work was unfinished and that she had proceeded with the approval of the native priest, the story had that rarest of dénouements on the web: a cheerful ending.

Whereas preliminary studies recommended that the fresco could be eliminated if Giménez’s alterations couldn’t be undone, it stays resolutely in situ—and whereas its creative benefit stays questionable, the portray has confirmed an economic boon for Borja. In keeping with the BBC, the city acquired some 5,000 vacationers a 12 months earlier than 2012; in 2013, it welcomed 40,000 guests, and even right now, some 15,000 to twenty,000 folks go out of their way to get a first-hand have a look at Giménez’s work. The city has since constructed an arts heart dedicated to the portray and its historical past, and Giménez staged an exhibition of her personal work in 2013.

Giménez’s dying was confirmed by Eduardo Arilla, the mayor of Borja, who posted a rather lovely obituary on his Fb web page. Describing Giménez as “a robust girl, a selfless mom, and a tough employee,” Arilla referred to as her “irreplaceable” and expressed his “profound unhappiness” at her loss. And if there actually is a God, we hope he/she/they’re presently ushering Giménez by means of the Pearly Gates, paintbrush in hand.