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I was closely linked with [Alfonso] Pérez Sánchez, because I joined when he was Assistant Director and [José Manuel] Pita Andrade was Director. Alfonso Pérez Sánchez had given me classes when I was at the Restoration School in the halls of the Museo del Prado. I had close dealings with him, and he involved us in the Velázquez restorations and the beginnings of the workshop. Because later on, my sister and I, both together and separately, went on to restore practically the entire Velázquez collection at the Museo del Prado.
My sister and I did The Drunkards [The Drunkards or the Triumph of Bacchus] together, as well as Vulcan’s Forge, together with the one that is in the Royal Palace. Then we did The Lances [The Lances or the Surrender of Breda] and The Spinners [The Spinners or the Fable of Arachne], also together. Then separately, my sister restored the Christo [Christ Crucified] and The Hermits [St. Anthony Abbot and St. Paul the First Hermit]. And I did the whole Aesop series, Menippus and the entire Hunters series. I also restoredSibyl and Sister Jerónima de la Fuente [The Venerable Mother Jerónima de la Fuente]. Between the two of us, we restored practically the entire Velázquez collection.
A team was formed for Las Meninas. John Brealey came to carry out the cleaning process, but then a team of four people at the Museo del Prado was chosen: Enrique Quintana, Clara Quintanilla, my sister Rocío and me. During that period Enrique Quintana had an accident. He broke his hand and, in the end, he was unable to work on the painting, although he did work on the report. Those of us who retouched Las Meninas included Clara Quintanilla, my sister Rocío and me.
She works as a restorer at the Museo del Prado, participating in major projects such as the restoration of Las Meninas in 1984, directed by John Brealey (from the Metropolitan Museum of Art) and the restoration of the Adam and Eve panels by Dürer.
Interview recorded on November 29, 2017
