OUTRAGE has been sparked after a Spanish priest asked a local schoolteacher to restore a priceless 16th-Century statue of St George.

The new coat of paint has left locals fuming at the church of San Miguel of Estella, in the northern Spanish region of Navarra, reports The Sun.
The end result has been compared to the now infamous Ecce Homo painting of Borja that was “touched up” by cleaning lady Cecilia Gimenez and destroyed in the process.

The statue of San Jorge (Saint George) shows the armoured saint riding a horse as he fights the dragon but it was too dull for the local priest, who according to reports decided to ask a schoolteacher if she could take the time to restore it.

The woman, named in local media simply as Carmen who reportedly teaches arts and crafts at a local school, was happy to help out and the result was unveiled to the horror of locals this week.

Social media users flooded the internet with comparisons to the botched statue.

Many compared the statue to children’s cartoon characters.

Fernando Segovia tweeted: “Do not be fooled, San Jorge de Estella is Stingy de Lazy Town.”

Another likened the statue to Marty Feldman’s Igor in Young Frankenstein.

A further joker compared the statue to Herge’s famed comic book journalist Tintin.

Finally one also likened the restoration to a character from Disney’s the Sword in the Stone.

Koldo Leoz, the Mayor of Estella, admitted that the “restoration has left a lot to be desired as it is an artwork from the 16th Century and, if nothing else, care should have been taken of the materials used for the restoration.”

He said that the priest, named Jose Miguel, should have asked for permission first from the city council and a specialist would then have been assigned to oversee the restoration.

That did not happen and now the original statue, which had some faded colours, has been completely covered by the new paint.