It’s been nearly three years since an ill-trained restorer bestowed Beast Jesus upon the world (wide web), but now a mosaic artist in southern Turkey is calling attention to the cartoonish makeover given to Roman mosaics.
restoration
Posted inNews
Paris Pledges €80 Million to Fix Historic Buildings, but Much More Is Needed
The city of Paris will spend €80 million (~$85.9 million) over the next five years fixing up and restoring the 96 historic buildings it is responsible for maintaining.
Posted inArt
A Disappeared Houdini Film Escapes from Obscurity
The great escape artist Harry Houdini starred in five silent films in the early 20th century, but one considered among his best was long considered lost — until now.
Posted inArt
How to Fix a Monet After Somebody Punches It
Conservators are probably the closest thing the art world has to surgeons.
Posted inNews
Earthquake-Proofing Michelangelo’s Statue of David
After more than 250 small earthquakes shook Italy last week, the Italian Ministry of Culture announced it will spend €200,000 (~$245,000) on an anti-seismic base to secure Michelangelo’s statue of David, the Agence France-Presse reported.
Posted inIn Brief
Holy Hell: Critic Alleges Major Restoration of Chartres Cathedral Is “Fake”
An intensive restoration of France’s Chartres Cathedral that replicates the interior’s original colors and patterns has earned a polemical rebuke from the critic Martin Filler, who charged that the method makes “authentic artifacts look fake.”
Posted inArt
Undoing a 19th-Century Art Restorer’s Overzealous Handiwork
The 19th-century art restorer Raffaele Gargiulo was so good at reconstructing Greek vases, one antiquarian called it a “dangerous perfection for knowledge.” Filling in broken gaps with his own paintings, mending cracks with brass staples, his work was a potential threat to history.
Posted inNews
Three Afghani Masterpieces Face Same Threats, Different Futures
Three architectural wonders from 12th century Afghanistan are currently in danger of collapse: the minaret of Jam in Ghur province and the two “Victory Towers” in Ghazni
Posted inArt
A Tumultuous Tale of Boy Meets Girl
Thirty years after its release seduced critics with a nocturnal, jumbled dream of love and light, Leos Carax’s debut film, Boy Meets Girl, continues to burn with contradictions, seeming somehow to be younger today than it was yesterday.
Posted inArt
Lincoln’s Loveseat: Help Restore the ‘Courting Couch’ Where Abe Wooed His Babe
There are plenty of artifacts of Abraham Lincoln, from his fine pocket watch acquired while he was a successful Illinois lawyer to the presidential top hat he’s believed to have worn for that infamous 1865 evening at Ford’s Theater.
Posted inArt
Resurrecting an Illusion: Last Surviving Daguerre Diorama Restored
Louis Daguerre may have his name most linked to the groundbreaking photographic process he created — the daguerreotype — but the French inventor hardly stopped there with his experiments with imaging.
Posted inNews
This Botched Chinese Restoration Job Might Be the New Beast Jesus
In what’s undoubtedly the worst “restoration” job we’ve read about since last year’s Beast Jesus, a local company in the Chinese city of Chaoyang has destroyed a series of Qing Dynasty frescoes by painting an entirely new scene over them in garish colors.