Voces del Prado

The Restoration of Masterpieces: Titian, Goya, Hieronymus Bosch

Fernando Checa Cremades, Museum Director, 1996-2001

Although restorations had been carried out on works by Velázquez, a painter who had a pictorial technique that is, in a certain sense, reminiscent of the Venetian paintings of the sixteenth century, Titian was a pending matter. The restoration of Titian’s works, for example Charles V at the Battle of Mühlberg or The Burial of Christ, important works from Titian’s late period, began with a programme that still continues today. These programmes were undertaken for important works. The restoration policy for Titian’s works, in the same way as with those of Goya or Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights, consisted of holding an international symposium before the restoration took place, with a view to gathering advice and a range of different opinions. This a practice that the Museum has continued in one way or another. This is the best indication that restoration work is being carried out properly, because it offers all the necessary guarantees when acting upon an important work. It offers the Museum the opportunity to see what other museums have done, such as the Louvre or the Metropolitan, for example, so that it can see what they have done and the problems they have encountered. That’s the way restorations should be carried out and that’s the policy that the Museo del Prado continues to apply today.