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The elderly woman from Spain who made international headlines for her poorly executed repair job on a valuable religious painting has passed away at the age 94.

Cecilia Giménez, from the town of Borja in northern Spain, became a global sensation 13 years ago after she undertook to restore a 100-year-old fresco titled Ecce Homo housed within her local church.

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

Official Announcement and Tribute

The 94-year-old's death was announced by Borja's mayor, Eduardo Arilla, via an online statement, where he acknowledged her as a "passionate enthusiast of painting from a young age".

"Rest in peace Cecilia, we will always remember you," Arilla wrote.

Arilla also paid tribute to Giménez's "famous restoration of Ecce Homo" in the summer of 2012, which "due to the poor state of conservation it presented, Cecilia, with the best intentions, decided to apply new paint over the original".

The Painting's History and the Fateful Act

The Ecce Homo ("Behold the Man" in Latin) painted by nineteenth-century artist Elias Garcia Martinez had resided for more than a hundred years in the Santuario de la Misericordia close to Zaragoza.

In 2012, Giménez, who was 81 years old, explained that church members had "traditionally fixed everything here", and that she had been given the go-ahead from the parish priest to proceed.

She added at the time that anyone who came into the church would have seen she was applying paint to the existing image.

An Unexpected Tourist Boom

The aftermath of the repaint job led to the creation of the "Monkey Christ" internet phenomenon and saw the once quiet town of Borja rapidly turn into a significant visitor attraction.

The municipality, which had in the past welcomed just five thousand tourists per year, received more than 40,000 tourists by 2013, and managed to raise over €50,000 for charity from the attention.

Currently, local authorities say that between 15,000 and 20,000 tourists travel to Borja every year to see the notorious painting, which is now protected by a protective shield of glass.

Later Life and Community Support

Following the initial backlash, with support from local residents and well-wishers around the world, Giménez later hold an exhibition of her paintings showcasing twenty-eight of her personal paintings.

She was commended by the mayor for her generosity and decades of faithful service to the parish.

In the end, what began as a well-intentioned but flawed art repair created an unlikely piece of pop culture and brought unprecedented attention and resources to a humble Spanish town.