Voces del Prado

Love for My Work

María Teresa Dávila Álvarez, Restorer, 1982-2013

Working at the Prado was really beautiful, but there were some moments of great pressure. I never aspired to become Director or Head of the Workshop or to earn a great deal of money. I don’t know whether you could call this a defect, because then I would have been involved in different battles. I simply loved my work, for the sake of doing it and due to the fact that I was in the middle of everything. It was marvellous to be able to learn, listen, see … Nevertheless, I was also sometimes subject to an ambience that made me think, “yes, I’m going to retire” when I reach retirement age. But, of course, they’re very important works and, at certain moments, we attracted a great deal of attention. It’s a lot of pressure and that’s very tiring. On the one hand, it was a privilege; on the other, it was extremely tiring.