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José Manso was an extremely important figure within the Restoration Workshop. He was considered to be an artisan restorer. His job was to direct the lining process, whilst we all helped him to carry out the task. He was a marvellous carpenter who worked on the wooden supports. He used the criteria of the time, not those of today; but he was meticulous and very careful. He was the one who spotted and recruited José de la Fuente. He’d worked his whole life at the Museum, from a very young age. He’d witnessed many changes and had seen many people come and go, working with experts from whom he’d learned and whom he taught. The damaged paintings belonging to the Museo del Prado were the ones that were burned in the fire [at the Alcázar], featuring a number of losses and breakages. But with Pepe Manso we knew that we would be able to fix such serious problems. If he hadn’t been there, a restoration such as that of the Immaculate Conception [by Ribera] from Salamanca would have been much more difficult. Later on, all of this know-how was passed on, for example, to my colleagues in the nineteenth century art department, who have had to undertake important lining procedures, such as Eva Perales and Lucía Martínez, given that the idea is to continue this tradition. Nevertheless, theory is one thing … it’s in the practice that you really learn something.
He works at the Restoration Workshop of the Museo del Prado, specializing in the works of El Greco. He is also Professor of Restoration at the Official School of Applied Arts in Madrid, and he received the National Prize for Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Goods in 2010.
Interview recorded on April 19, 2018
