1978: My Arrival at the Workshop

Rafael Alonso Alonso, Restorer, 1978-2016

I really joined the workshop in 1978. Alfonso Pérez Sánchez, who was the Head of the Restoration Workshop, had asked for a qualified restorer at the Faculty of Fine Arts. And the Faculty Head, Professor Francisco Núñez de Celis, sent me. I remember that the first picture I restored was The Pentecost by Juan Bautista Maíno, which is a big picture. Then I did two pictures that Antonio de Pereda painted for the Church of El Carmen [Madrid]. And other quite important works. So then they gave me the opportunity to work as best I could; it seems the Museum’s management were happy with me, because they kept me working. At that time, I was working on a project-by-project basis, but later on they gave me a contract, which was renewed on annual basis. Until some years later I took some State-run exams and I was appointed to a permanent position.
I got into my work little by little. In those days it was difficult to understand restoration. In general, the Museum was dark and dirty, because few works had been restored. They were all brown; they had no colour. I recall that in around 1980 they asked me to restore a painting by Rubens, Fortune. I carried out a prudent clean of the painting and, when it was finished, it was going to be hung next to other paintings that were brown. I was really scared. When the picture was hung back up, I went down to the hall in the morning and sat on a bench to see people’s reaction. But nobody said anything, and I was relieved to see that it wasn’t going to provoke any kind of scandal. At that time – and even now – every time you restore a painting at the Museo del Prado, it’s as if you’re taking a refresher exam.