Loading...
I put off my retirement for five years and left when I was seventy years old. So I knew that those five years would be a long goodbye. I saw pictures that I was going to restore and others that I was never going to restore, although I would’ve liked to have done so. That’s what I found most difficult to handle, saying, “that’s the end of that; you’re going to see it but you’re not going to touch it”. That was the worst, because what I really loved most of all was my work. My farewell was truly moving. It took place in the Casón del Buen Retiro. I remember there was a lot of crying; not on my part, because I didn’t cry, but Manuela Mena and Enrique Quintana did. It was very moving and very beautiful. I didn’t leave the workshop for good until two days later. When I left I was calm, because I did so with the idea that I had fulfilled a mission, and, in fact, there is nothing I regret. I’ve done everything my own way. But then I think, “what do I do now?”. But there are always things to do and, fortunately, I’m still active, because I don’t know how to sit still. My works look good. I’m very demanding with myself, but I think I’ve done what I had to do, and I think I’ve done it quite well.
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
