Spanish woman who found fame for botching fresco restoration dies

Cecilia Giménez's effort to restore the painting Ecce Homo earned the artwork the nickname "Monkey Christ".

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Cecilia Giménez, an elderly woman from Borja, northeast Spain, became famous 13 years ago after she attempted to restore the century-old painting titled Ecce Homo that was held in her local church.

Giménez's restoration went viral and earned the nickname "Monkey Christ", because of Christ's head resembling a hairy monkey.

The 94-year-old's death was confirmed by Borja's mayor, Eduardo Arilla, in a Facebook post, in which he recognised her as a "great lover of painting from a young age".

Mayor Arilla paid tribute to Giménez's "famous restoration of Ecce Homo" in August 2012, which "due to the poor state of conservation it presented, Cecilia, with the best intentions, decided to repaint the work over".