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The Spanish parishioner who made international headlines for her infamous repair job on a cherished Jesus Christ fresco has died at the age 94.

Cecilia Giménez, a resident of the town of Borja in northern Spain, rose to prominence thirteen years ago after she attempted to repaint a century-old painting titled Ecce Homo housed within her local church.

Giménez's restoration effort spread across the internet and earned the moniker "Potato Jesus", because the resulting likeness of Christ's head looking somewhat like a furry primate.

Official Confirmation and Tribute

The 94-year-old's passing was announced by Borja's mayor, Eduardo Arilla, via an online statement, where he described her as a "great lover of painting from a young age".

"Descansa en paz Cecilia, your memory will live on with us," Arilla wrote.

Arilla further referenced Giménez's "now-legendary restoration of Ecce Homo" in the summer of 2012, which "because of the poor state of conservation it presented, Cecilia, acting in good faith, decided to apply new paint over the original".

The Artwork's History and the Fateful Intervention

The Ecce Homo ("This is the Man" in Latin) painted by nineteenth-century artist Elias Garcia Martinez had been held for over a century in the Sanctuary of Mercy Church near Zaragoza.

In 2012, Giménez, then 81, explained that church members had "always repaired everything here", and that she had received permission from the local priest to do the work.

She also noted that anyone who came into the Church would have observed she was painting over the original artwork.

An Unexpected Tourist Boom

The aftermath of the repaint job led to the creation of the "Ecce Mono" meme and transformed the previously sleepy town of Borja quickly become a major tourist destination.

The municipality, which had in the past welcomed just 5,000 visitors per year, attracted over 40,000 tourists by 2013, and generated more than €50,000 for charity from the attention.

Currently, officials estimate that somewhere around 15,000 and 20,000 tourists visit Borja every year to view the notorious portrait, which is now displayed behind a pane of glass.

Legacy and Local Support

Following the initial backlash, with support from the townspeople and others around the world, Giménez went on to hold an art exhibition featuring 28 of her personal paintings.

She was praised by the mayor for her kind-hearted nature and decades of dedication to the parish.

In the end, what began as a well-intentioned but flawed art repair forged an unlikely piece of pop culture and provided remarkable tourist revenue to a small Spanish town.