SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The official portrait of former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was hung Friday alongside past governors at the state Capitol after getting a touch-up on the spot where his wife’s image was removed.

Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein smoothed out a smudge that once featured a lapel button showing the face of wife Maria Shriver, Capitol curator Koren Benoit said. That part had been noticeably painted over when the portrait was unveiled in September.

The two separated after revelations emerged about an affair Schwarzenegger had with his maid that produced a son. It’s not clear who removed the Shriver image in the first place.

“The original artist fixed it,” Benoit said.

The painting of the two-term Republican governor was hung on the third floor of the Capitol next to his predecessor, Democratic Gov. Gray Davis. Schwarzenegger was elected governor in the same special election in 2003 in which Davis was recalled.

The realist-style portrait features a steel frame and captures a youthful Schwarzenegger standing in front of the state seal.


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