Voces del Prado

1996-2001. Fernando Checa Cremades

Manuela Mena Marqués, Head of the Department of Conservation of 18th Century Painting and Goya, 1978-2019

This was another quite long period of management, one in which I ceased to serve as Assistant Director; he changed the whole structure of the Museum in order to be able to remove me as Assistant Director. They could have simply asked and I would have gone! But they changed the administrative make-up of Museum. I don’t remember exactly how they did it. Ah, yes! The Chairman of the Board of Trustees acquired the same responsibilities as the Director; and the Director took on the former responsibilities of the Assistant Director. That was the change. And this brought new developments to the Museum. He made a key acquisition for the Prado, which was a bit crazy because the work was already destined for the Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, although this wasn’t really appropriate because it should have been for the Prado: “The Countess of Chinchón.” And this work will be here for ever thanks to him. He had other virtues, but this was an important virtue for a Director: enhancing the Museum with a work that not only enriches the collection, but also changes it.