Twitter user 'Fresco Jesus' became an internet sensation after a Spanish grandmother tried-but-failed to restore a 120-year-old church fresco.

Cecilia Gimenez, 81, from Zaragoza, Spain, first hit the news when her local church suspected someone had vandalized one of its paintings. The century-old artwork, titled "Ecce Homo" (Behold The Man), features a sorrowful Jesus Christ wearing a crown of thorns and looking up to the heavens. The fresco was made by famous Spanish artist Elias Garcia Martinez.

Gimenez came forward to tell authorities at Santuario de la Misericordia that the priest knew what she intended to do with the painting.

"We saw that everything was falling down, and we fixed it," Gimenez told Reuters.

Asked whether she worked on the painting in secret, the grandmother said "everyone" who came to the church saw her working on the art, and "they didn't do anything."

In a translated interview with Reuters, Gimenez said:

"I had nothing but good intentions and always believed I was doing the right thing. Besides, I hadn't finished the painting!"

The century-old artwork, titled “Ecce Homo” (Behold The Man), features a sorrowful Jesus Christ wearing a crown of thorns and looking up to the heavens. The fresco was made by famous Spanish artist Elias Garcia Martinez. Photo: Centro de estudios Borjanos

In its report, BBC described the restoration as looking like "a crayon sketch of a very hairy monkey in an ill-fitting tunic."

Some Spanish have called the painting, "Ecce Mono" (Behold the Monkey).

On Twitter, the Fresco Jesus account uploaded parodies of Gimenez' restoration, with captions like, "Somebody stop her!"

Fresco Jesus also touched up Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" and "The Last Supper" using the strokes applied by Gimenez.

Speaking to Reuters, the original artist's granddaughter, Teresa Garcia, hinted the touching up of the tunic did not create a big problem. It was when Gimenez moved on to the head when it got problematic.

"The problem is that now she has meddled with the head and, clearly, she has destroyed the painting."

The funny website 9gag.com also rode the restoration news with "The next step."

Click 'Start' to see "The next step" and parodied art works by Fresco Jesus.

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