Voces del Prado

Sánchez Cantón: a key figure

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

He became a kind of legend. But when you delve into the Museum’s archives you can see that this legendary figure maybe possessed more passion for the Prado than the other directors who came after him. He always achieved quite incredible and unbelievable things in favour of the Prado, such as standing up to Alberti the night on which they took the paintings out of the Museo del Prado during the Civil War, which placed the works in grave danger. I didn’t know him very well personally, but I have got to know him through documents, and I believe he is a truly key figure for the Museo del Prado. He thought it was dangerous for the works to be taken out of the Museum, works that had already been placed in the basement, where they were well protected. Taking these masterpieces out of the Museo del Prado was a serious matter, and a figure such as him had the right to think that this was dangerous. And in the end it turned out to be exactly that, because one of the trucks hit a balcony and the Second of May and Third of May by Goya were damaged. And worse things could’ve happened. The return from Switzerland by train was also dangerous, although the Red Cross was painted on top of it so that it wouldn’t be bombed. But the Nazis were bombarding France. In fact, one of the individuals who travelled on that train was a young member of the Macarrón family, who witnessed the considerable danger of the situation, because the whole train could have been blown up. Everything would have disappeared. That is to say, it was a very great risk.