Voces del Prado

I’ve Had the Great Masters in My Hands

María Teresa Dávila Álvarez, Restorer, 1982-2013

I’ve had the great masters in my hands; masters who’ve created schools of painting and have enabled others to learn from them. I’m talking about The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch, The Descent from the Cross by Van der Weyden, practically all of the works by Velázquez, starting with Las Meninas and continuing with The Spinners [The Spinners or the Fable of Arachne], The Drunkards [The Drunkards or the Triumph of Bacchus], The Lances [The Lances or the Surrender of Breda], etc.
Charles V at the Battle of Mühlberg by Titian was an enormous painting which presented a large number of problems. Even Titian himself dropped it and tore the canvas, and later on they had to cut it out of its frame and throw it out of a window during the Alcázar fire. The original canvas is full of tears, glazes and retouched areas, which are really repaints that interfere with the original painting. This picture is practically nothing, just an illusion of materials. It commands enormous respect. It’s beautiful work, but work in which you have to use all your five senses. In the same way that they have a soul, you have to put your soul into it when you restore the painting. It may sound like a bit of a cliché, but I loved my work. I understand it as a vocation, something I have enjoyed deeply. It was a real privilege to be at the Museo del Prado, because I was surrounded by excellent professionals who helped me to achieve all this.