Unanimous vote by selection committee still needs approval from trustees and Spanish government

The new director of the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid will be Miguel Falomir, the museum’s long-serving curator and current deputy director, according to Spanish press reports. The selection committee tasked with appointing a successor to the outgoing director of 15 years, Miguel Zugaza, voted unanimously for Falomir on 22 February. The trustees of the Prado are due to meet in mid-March to approve the decision, which must then be formalised by Spain’s Council of Ministers.

Falomir—who became the museum’s deputy director for collections and research after Gabriele Finaldi left to lead London’s National Gallery in 2015—was Zugaza’s favourite candidate, El País reports. He was chosen by a committee including Zugaza, the chair of the board of trustees José Pedro Pérez-Llorca and representatives of the Spanish ministry of culture. 

Falomir, an Italian Renaissance specialist, joined the Prado in 1997 as the head of the department for pre-1700 Italian and French paintings. He has organised major exhibitions on Titian, Tintoretto, Renaissance portraiture and Raphael. Between 2008 and 2010 he held the Andrew W. Mellon professorship at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. Announcing Falomir’s appointment as deputy director in 2015, Zugaza praised his “commitment to making a decisive contribution” to the Prado’s preparations for its 200-year anniversary in 2019.