The international art community is up in arms over a fresco in a Spanish church that was recently painted over by an elderly parishioner, in an attempting to restore the decaying masterpiece. The fresco, entitled "Ecce Homo" (behold the man) a portrait of Jesus Christ with a crown of thorns, was brought to the attention of a local art conservation society when the granddaughter of the artist delivered to them another original work. The "restored" work has been rendered nearly unrecognizable, and has been totally painted over.
This caused the CNN blog to draw a connection between the parishioner's actions and those of Mr. Bean, when in his film he sneezes on (and proceeds to destroy) "Whistler's Mother"
This connection is even stronger than it appears however... Anyone familiar with the BBC television series Mr. Bean would recall fondly the show's lighthearted choral theme song. It just so happens that the title of that gorgeous theme is the very same as that of the desecrated work, "Ecce Homo"
"Behold the man who is a bean", the song goes. It almost seems the universe predicted that this fresco would become the victim of a well meaning local who truly is a bean...
