Voces del Prado

The Loan of a National Treasure: A Whole Hour Trying to Convince Them

Pilar Silva Maroto, Head of the Department of Conservation of Flemish Painting and the Northern Schools up to 1700, 1997-2017

One of the first difficulties I experienced was linked to the "Bosch" Exhibition in 2016. We began to work on the project in 2010-2011 and it was extremely hard work trying to secure the loan of the works. The most difficult process was for the Triptych of the Temptations of St. Anthony, located at the National Museum of Ancient Art (MNAA) in Lisbon, a work that is never loaned. I went to visit them at my own cost so that it wouldn’t be an expense for the Museum and I asked to see the Director of the Museum in order to secure the loan, even though I knew their policy was to never loan out the work. It took me almost an hour to find out how it might be done. He told me that the only way, given that the work constituted a Portuguese national treasure, would be for an agreement to be reached between the Ministries of Culture of Portugal and Spain, something that would have to be approved at a Cabinet level. That’s what we did and that’s how we managed to secure the loan of such an important work.