John Brealey’s Recognition

Rafael Alonso Alonso, Restorer, 1978-2016

A year after he had worked at the Museo del Prado, he suffered a brain haemorrhage. He spent several days alone in his house in New York. When they went to his home, because he hadn’t turned up at the restoration workshop, they found him in a very bad state. Later on he came over in a wheelchair, but he could hardly speak by then. Something else important happened, which was that Javier Cerrillo died, whom he’d appreciated a great deal. Our meeting was very moving, although we didn’t know how to communicate with each other. Then he wanted to see the latest work I had carried out, including An Episode from a Battle between Turks and Christians [The Abduction of Helen] by Tintoretto. He taught me so many lessons. One of them was that - bearing in mind that the English don’t show their emotions much - when John Brealey reached the Titian hall and saw the paintings, he realised that he could no longer do anything, and his eyes filled with tears. We made up a small group of restorers, those who were closest to him, such as Enrique and Clara, and we accompanied him to see An Episode from a Battle between Turks and Christians, which was the work I was restoring when he left. And when he saw it, he took my hands and he held them to his lips. It was very moving.
The problem we have in Spain is that we don’t give much value to the things we have over here. We weren’t held in especially high esteem by the management of the Museo del Prado or at a national level. We were respected, but we weren’t taken into consideration. We were simply working there. Except for Manuela Mena, who was the Head of the Workshop, and Pérez Sánchez who endeavoured to set up the Restoration Workshop and structure it. But people in general weren’t that fussed. However, Brealey had no prejudices and when he saw us working, he was extremely enthusiastic about the degree of perfection pursued by the restorers at the Museum. He spoke very well of us to the Museum management and the Board of Trustees, both of which began to value us and encourage us to claim official public acknowledgement for our work.