Francisco Javier Sánchez Cantón
Francisco Javier Sánchez Cantón (1891–1971) was a Spanish art historian, who from 1960 to 1968 was Director of the Museo del Prado. Life. Born in Pontevedra, Galicia (Spain), on 14 July 1891, in 1913 he obtained a doctorate from the Central University, Madrid, with a thesis on "Los pintores de cámara de los reyes de España" (published in 1916). He started work at the Museo del Prado the same year. He was also attached to the Centro de Estudios Históricos (now Instituto Diego Velázquez of the Spanish National Research Council), and was for some years the  editor-in-chief of the journal "Archivo Español de Arte". In 1929 he curated an exhibition of the work of Anton Raphael Mengs at the Prado. During the Spanish Civil War he was active in conserving the Prado's collections. In 1943 he became director of the Instituto Padre Sarmiento de Estudios Gallegos and editor-in-chief of its journal, "Cuadernos de Estudios Gallegos". In the same year, he was appointed to the chair of General Art History at the University of Madrid, going on to serve as vice-rector of the university from 1950 to 1958. He was elected  to the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in 1925, the Real Academia de la Historia in 1934, and the Real Academia Española in 1949. In 1956 he became director of the second, and in 1966 director of the first. In 1960 he was appointed Director of the Prado Museum, and at his retirement in 1968 he was appointed honorary director. He died on 27 November 1971. Awards. In 1951 he received the Civil Order of Alfonso X, the Wise (Grand Cross). He also received the Argentinian Order of May and the French Legion of Honour. Francisco Javier