Voces del Prado

The portrait of Innocent X

José María Luzón Nogué, Museum Director, 1994-1996

I was having lunch in Rome with the ambassadress of Spain and she told me that Prince Doria, who was quite old, was going to do some remodelling in his palace. She had access to him and maybe we could bring the Portrait of Innocent X, which would travel for the first time. She said that she thought they wanted to take it to Britain, but we could try asking to bring it to the Prado. I asked to speak to the man and went to the Doria Palace. He was a very elderly man, seated in a chapel or something similar. He had a son and daughter and we negotiated to bring the painting over, and they were so generous as to loan it to us without asking for anything. Jonathan, the son of Prince Doria, told me: “Look, we would like for the Prado to help us to introduce ourselves in Spain, because our ancestors once had a good relation with Spain and we do not conserve a rapport at that level.” Here there are letters in which they treat each other as brothers. We did that. I'm not giving any names but I know that they spent summers with very prominent people, and they established the relationship they wanted with relevant Spanish people.