Spanish fresco “restored” by amature

According to the Centre for Borjanos, an 80 year-old woman attempted to restore a 1910 fresco in the Iglesia del Santuario de Misericordia in Borja, Spain. While her intentions were good, she acted without authorization and may have caused irreversible damage to the small mural. The painting, “Ecco Homo” painted by Elias Garcia Martinez, is not considered highly valuable but professional restorers have been asked to assess the damage and repair the painting if possible. The church is considering legal action against the woman. (sources: BBC News and cnews.)

National Portrait Gallery provides free images

The National Portrait Gallery in London is now supporting free downloads of images from its collection for academic uses. More than 53,000 low-resolution images and 87,000 high-resolution images are available with through a Creative Commons license.
More information on the NPG’s Academic license is available here.