Santiago Alcolea, prominent art historian and director of the Amatller Institute of Hispanic Art Foundation, dies

The renowned art historian Santiago Alcolea has died after a ten-year battle with cancer. With a professional career that left a deep mark on the world of art, Alcolea was for forty years the director of the Institut Amatller d'Art Hispànic Foundation, an institution he joined in 1977 thanks to his connection with his teacher, Josep Gudiol Ricart. Under his direction, Casa Amatller experienced its reopening, becoming a benchmark for the conservation and dissemination of artistic heritage.

Santiago Alcolea is remembered by the artistic sector as a great connoisseur of Catalonia's cultural heritage. He was responsible for the inventory of the church's movable property and served as an advisor to the Generalitat in matters of heritage. His influence was also notable internationally, where he co-founded and directed the International Association of Art History Research Centers.

A prolific author, Alcolea published important works on Catalan Gothic, Baroque and Romanesque painting, particularly highlighting his research on artists such as Marià Fortuny. One of his most relevant contributions is the monograph he produced on the Prado Museum, considered a key work in the study of this institution.

With his death, the art world loses one of its great scholars and defenders of cultural heritage, who dedicated his life to research and the preservation of art history.