The potato head of Palencia: defaced Spanish statue latest victim of botched restoration

Conservation experts in Spain are once again calling for stricter regulations within the sector after yet another work has been irreparably damaged by an amateur restorer.

Adorning the facade of a high street bank in the north-western city of Palencia, the statue, first unveiled in 1923, once depicted a smiling woman carved among a pastoral scene of livestock. But following a disastrous restoration attempt, its face has been crudely reduced to “a cartoon head”, writes local painter Antonio Guzmán Capel, who first brought the story to attention in a Facebook post. …

“Restoring is not repairing, serious interventions must follow criteria, which are internationally approved, as well as those applied by the IPCE [the Spanish Cultural Heritage Institute], and other accredited entities that exist in Spain,” tweeted the Valencia-based conservator Illanos Argudo.

By Kabir Jhala, The Art Newspaper