| Download [PDF] |

The Fundación IBERDROLA has sponsored the restoration of the Nero and Seneca sculpture group, created by Eduardo Barrón in 1904, and which will be on display from today 15 February to next autumn in the emblematic round room of the Prado Museum, known as Ariadna's Rotunda. The work has been restored by the Museum’s team of technicians with the backing of the Foundation as supporting member.

The sculpture group, which depicts Seneca teaching his pupil Nero, has required two years of complex work, due to the loss of various fragments and the work's general deterioration, caused in part by the material used to sculpt it, plaster of Paris.

The work of the restoration team, with the support of the Fundación IBERDROLA, has enabled the sculpture to recover a homogeneous appearance, and the fingers of Seneca’s hand, a fundamental part of the sculpture group, have also been reconstructed. In addition, the natural ageing typical of a work over 100 years old has been preserved.

Moreover, the restored work will be exhibited for the first time together with a reduced version of the sculpture group that Eduardo Barrón gave as a present to Antonio Maura in 1907, as a token of gratitude for the latter's efforts in ensuring the success of the Prado Museum's sculpture catalogue.

This new work is part of the agreement signed by the Prado Museum and the Fundación IBERDROLA, whereby the latter becomes a supporting member of the Museum’s restoration programme.

This sponsorship, to which the Foundation will allocate €300,000, will have a duration of one year and will be renewed automatically upon the agreement of both parties.

About the Prado Museum

One of the main roles of the Prado Museum is to guarantee the protection and conservation of the Spanish Artistic Heritage assets it houses. A large part of this work falls to the Museum’s Restoration Area, made up of 31 specialists from various interdisciplinary departments whose joint efforts enable preventive conservation, study and analysis and, when necessary, restoration of the works of art.

The Museum’s 2009-2012 Action Plan envisages the restoration of numerous masterpieces, including Dürer’s Adam and Eve, presented in November 2010 with a special installation as the first project sponsored by the Fundación IBERDROLA. Both works will be on display in the central gallery of the Prado Museum’s ground floor until next 20 March.

About the Fundación IBERDROLA

With Ignacio Galán as Founding Trustee and Manuel Marín as Chairman, the Fundación IBERDROLA focuses its activity on three major areas: moving towards a sustainable energy model, cultural development in countries where the IBERDROLA Group operates, and development cooperation and solidarity.

The Foundation also carries out various projects related to the conservation of the historical-artistic heritage including, for example, the Atlantic Romanesque Restoration Programme, signed with the Ministry of Culture of Portugal and the Castile and León Regional Government in order to restore 33 Romanesque churches located around the Douro and Támega Rivers, or the funding and design of the illumination of outstanding buildings, such as the interior lighting of the Church of the Yuso Monastery (La Rioja) or the Basilica of the Royal Monastery of El Escorial (Madrid).