Cecilia Giménez, the woman who achieved unwanted international fame for her botched “Monkey Christ” restoration of a 19th-century mural in Borja, north-east Spain, has died aged 94.

In 2012, Giménez, an amateur artist, decided to restore Ecce Homo, a mural by a local artist, Elías García Martínez, that hung in the Santuario de Misericordia church in Borja. However, her talent as an artist was not equal to her good intentions and she produced what was described as the worst restoration in history.

Amid the storm of mockery and bad publicity over what became known as the Monkey Christ, Giménez took to her bed with an attack of anxiety, losing 17kg (37lb) in the process. However, she soon found that notoriety had an upside as people began bidding to buy her own art, which she sold on eBay, and she later donated the proceeds to a Catholic charity.