The latest amateur restoration job in Asturias

[Paladina]

Will this lure you away from the Camino?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...n-garish-robes-in-botched-spanish-restoration

 

[KinkyOne]

That's a CRIME!!! Can't believe it.
I just can't believe the stupidity of people sometimes.

It's like that I that know how to change a light bulb (but not much more) would go and try to repair a submarine...

 

[MinaKamina]

I'm with María Luisa Menéndez on this one. She is part of the cultural heritage of her village, and she did the village and community a service by painting the statues. The village likes the statues that way and they use them in their yearly procession.

When the statues were restored in 2003, it was noticed that during the ages, they had been painted over at least 8 times before. Painting the statues is part of their history and María Luisa is part of that history too.

If the Guardian chooses to call the restoration 'garish' and 'botched' that is entirely up to them and it is probably more telling of how the Guardian and other journalists see people living in small Spanish communities and their values and ideas about wooden statues.

Come to think of it, it is really odd that the Guardian and other representatives of the chattering classes celebrate diversity in so many areas, but apparently not when their own opinion about art is challenged unwittingly by a woman in a small village who would not dream of taking her ideas to the world wide web.


https://www.elcomercio.es/asturias/ecce-homo-ranadoiro-tineo-20180907035407-nt.html

 

[Tincatinker]

And the dear old dears of that wonderful institution the British Museum (its all in the name really..) spent years carefully scraping the original paint off the statuary from the Parthenon. And there are endless examples of the perceptive few painting over or out anything that doesn't quite fit their aesthetic.

Poor old Gruaniad, it used to be a newspaper - even if it was one renowned for its typos.

And in ref: to the OP, Ranadorio is now on my list of shrines to independence that I shall have to visit again

 

[Paladina]

Don’t shoot the messenger! The Guardian’s correspondent is reporting the objections raised in Spain. The ‘experts’, as also quoted in the El Comercio article, allegedly object not merely to the crude colours but also to the inappropriate type of paint the restorer has used. The Spanish journalist’s evocation of Playmobil figures and Aldomovar kitsch seems to me quite apposite. I doubt whether the supporters of independence and/or diversity would defend a similar facelift of the bust of Santiago in the Cathedral.

 

[Tincatinker]

I'm minded of the fresco of the Christ awakening in his tomb that decorates a wall at Vilar Las Donas still. It was painted in the Byzantine style but by no known master and more likely by some pious soul who had seen some of those masters works. The image is not of some remote and austere god-man that the Constantines were so dependent on to preserve their authority. Its of a lost and bewildered man who having died on that bitter cross has found himself alive again: holding his bindings in dis-belief as he feels the walls of the tomb around him. As it slowly flakes and fades no experts are busily 'phoning the Guardian or any Spanish newspaper that I'm aware of to fight for its preservation or restoration.

Ranadorio's triptych has no history of historical reverence. In fact no history at all until Snr Saro brought it to the attention of an English newspaper. Even he, the 'restorer', refers to previous paint jobs. There is a long long history of pious amateurs doing their best to preserve and continue local traditions, monuments and shrines and another mocking article from a newspaper that used to know better is a sign that the headline is worth more than the article.

It will be a shame if the good lady's efforts have rendered some permanent, destructive damage to the objects but that is unlikely. Its lasted 600 challenging years apparently: in another 600 no doubt there will be debate about whether the current restoration should involve ludicrously expensive oil-based acrylics or something more current and less environmentally hazardous.

 

[Paladina]

A constructive argument from @Tincatinker, but it does not invalidate the three main objections: the strident criticism originated in Spain, specifically in Asturias; heritage status is not restricted to objects of veneration; previous interventions have been reversible. In addition, and here I abandon all pretence of academic detachment, the makeover is perfectly hideous. At the risk of repeating myself I’ll say no more on the subject.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45455125

 

[Pelegrin]

Guardian writes Rañadorio and BBC Ranadoiro On different Spanish news you can also see both names ( the second with a ñ).
Rañadorio is correct. Rañadoiro is a sierra further west.

 

[Dorpie]

And the dear old dears of that wonderful institution the British Museum (its all in the name really..) spent years carefully scraping the original paint off the statuary from the Parthenon. And there are endless examples of the perceptive few painting over or out anything that doesn't quite fit their aesthetic.

Poor old Gruaniad, it used to be a newspaper - even if it was one renowned for its typos.

And in ref: to the OP, Ranadorio is now on my list of shrines to independence that I shall have to visit again

Tsk tsk. I think you'll find it's Grauniad. Oh the irony!

 

[Jeff Crawley]

I quite like it. Compare it with the local gigantes dancers (this from Cizur Mayor in 2003) it's a very similar style.

 

[Pelegrin]

Probably the parishioners compared their 'dark and sad' figures with the ones in the processions of Seville.

 

[4 Eyes]

The Greeks and Romans painted their marble statues. The Spaniards painted their wooden ones. However, I was used to seeing them unpainted, and thought they were meant to be unpainted. Later I learned I was wrong. I have not seen any marble ones repainted. Seeing the wooden ones painted was shocking at first, especially of the wounds and the gushing blood of the crucified Christ. It took getting used to. When I went to Capela de Ánimas in SDC for the first time, however. I was spellbound upon seeing the polychrome sculptures inside. Since then I have made sure I go there each time I'm in SDC. I'm now a total convert. I think I understand now why the Greeks and Romans painted their marbles. I have no opinion on the one in the village chapel in Rañadorio though, having not seen it in person.
I like the two painted ladies in the Parque Da Alameda too. Seeing them makes me happy. They got a new paint job with new outfits a little while ago.