Conservation experts in Spain have called for tighter regulations covering restoration work after a copy of a painting by the Baroque artist, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, became the latest piece of popular art to suffer a damaging and disfiguring repair.

A private art collector in Valencia was reportedly charged €1,200 by a furniture restorer to have the picture of the Immaculate Conception cleaned. However, this did not go to plan and the face of the Virgin Mary was left unrecognizable despite two attempts to restore it to its original condition, per The Guardian.

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Speaking to the publication, Fernando Carrera, a professor at the Galician School for the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage, stated that such incidents highlighted the need for work to only be carried out by properly trained restorers.

"I don’t think this guy – or these people – should be referred to as restorers," he told the Guardian. “Let’s be honest: they’re bodgers who botch things up. They destroy things."

Carrera, who is the former president of Spain’s Professional Association of Restorers and Conservators (Acre), also detailed that the law currently allows people to engage in restoration projects even if they lack the required skills.

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"Can you imagine just anyone being allowed to operate on other people? Or someone being allowed to sell medicine without a pharmacist’s licence? Or someone who’s not an architect being allowed to put up a building?" he continued.

While he clarified that restorers are "far less important than doctors", he added that the sector still needs stricter regulation for the sake of the country's cultural history;

"We see this kind of thing time and time again and yet it keeps on happening. Paradoxically, it shows just how important professional restorers are. We need to invest in our heritage, but even before we talk about money, we need to make sure that the people who undertake this kind of work have been trained in it.”

Experts call for regulation after latest botched art restoration in Spain