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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Lifestyle
Donna Lu

Dog x-rays, art history and a ‘never say never’ attitude: the surprising toolbox of professional conservators

NGV's head of conservation Michael Varcoe-Cocks stands in front of The First Cloud, a painting by Scottish painter William Orchardson
The National Gallery of Victoria’s head of conservation, Michael Varcoe-Cocks, is about to restore The First Cloud, an 1887 work by the Scottish painter William Orchardson. Photograph: Eugene Hyland/The Guardian

When Cecilia Giménez noticed a flaking and faded painting on the wall of her local church in 2012, her decision to pick up a paintbrush would result in one of the world’s most infamous cases of art restoration.

The Spanish octogenarian’s Mr Bean-like job on the 20th century fresco, done “spontaneously and with good intentions”, turned Jesus into something resembling a “bloated hedgehog” and “a crayon sketch of a very hairy monkey in an ill-fitting tunic”.

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