Cecilia Giménez Zueco—the woman behind Beast Jesus, the idiosyncratic attempt at art restoration that became an internet sensation in mid-2012—has died, just a few days short of her 95th birthday.
Giménez became famous for her attempt at restoring Ecce Homo, a fresco by Spanish painter Elías García Martínez. Martinez painted the image of Jesus in a crown of thorns directly onto the wall of the church in the small town of Borja, Zaragoza, sometime around 1930. By the early 2010s, it was in a sorry state, with the town’s humid atmosphere resulting in peeling paint and visible damage. Dismayed by the state of the work, Giménez made the fateful decision to take it upon herself to restore it to its former glory in 2012.
The result—which you may know as Monkey Jesus, Potato Jesus, or Ecce Mono—gave rise to a thousand memes, along with some surprisingly earnest art criticism. In 2026, the whole affair feels like a throwback to a different, more innocent time on the internet, a time when Facebook statuses still started with “is” and Twitter was a place for posting inane updates about your cat, not an ongoing global Nuremberg rally. Even the worldwide hilarity at the painting itself feels less mean-spirited than one might expect today, and while poor Giménez was clearly distraught at the reaction, claiming that the work was unfinished and that she had proceeded with the approval of the local priest, the story had that rarest of dénouements on the internet: a happy ending.
While initial reports suggested that the fresco would be removed if Giménez’s alterations could not be undone, it remains resolutely in situ—and while its artistic merit remains questionable, the painting has proven an economic boon for Borja. According to the BBC, the town received some 5,000 tourists a year before 2012; in 2013, it welcomed 40,000 visitors, and even today, some 15,000 to 20,000 people go out of their way to get a first-hand look at Giménez’s work. The town has since built an arts center devoted to the painting and its history, and Giménez staged an exhibition of her own paintings in 2013.
Giménez’s death was confirmed by Eduardo Arilla, the mayor of Borja, who posted a rather lovely obituary on his Facebook page. Describing Giménez as “a strong woman, a selfless mother, and a hard worker,” Arilla called her “irreplaceable” and expressed his “profound sadness” at her loss. And if there really is a God, we hope he/she/they are currently ushering Giménez through the Pearly Gates, paintbrush in hand.
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