Jesus Fresco Halloween Costume A Huge Hit Online

A Jesus fresco Halloween costume, capitalizing on the destruction of a classic piece of art, is a big hit on the internet.

Inspired by an elderly woman’s failure to restore a 19th-century painting of the face of Jesus called “Ecce Homo,” the Jesus fresco costume has been popular online so far.

The costume follows the tradition of turning offbeat news topics into Halloween costumes, like the”balloon boy” costumes of 2009 inspired by the fake journey of a boy stuck in a weather balloon that captivated the nation.

Pictures of the Jesus fresco Halloween costume first showed up on Reddit, where user Spinjump shared a photo album of himself wearing the costume to Anime Weekend Atlanta. The costume is now buzzing as one of the year’s hottest costumes.

As the Yahoo! News blog The Sideshow points out, the Jesus fresco Halloween costume is popular because it does such a good job imitating the ruined painting. It perfectly captures the blurred features of the painting some people have dubbed “Monkey Jesus.”

The costume has been a hit on Twitter as well, The Sideshow notes. User @RyanJohnNelson said, “Put away your Avengers outfits and Honey Boo Boo costumes. Best Halloween fancy dress this year, hands down.” User @RGPphotog was also impressed, tweeting “The Hottest Halloween Costume for this year is clearly ‘Monkey Jesus’. Though Steve Job’s Ghost is still in the top 10.”

The Jesus fresco Halloween costume isn’t the only hit — the botched painting itself is too. The church where it is housed has seen a spike in visitors, and the hapless woman who restored it has even tried to seek royalties for her work, Gawker reported.