The prehistoric art tracings of the MNCN. Conservation of a unique legacy.

The Archive of the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid keeps a collection of almost 2,200 iconographic documents produced by the Commission of Paleontological and Prehistoric Research (1912-1939). These are the sheets and tracings of the cave paintings performed in situ by Francisco Benítez Mellado, Juan Cabré Aguiló and other artists. There are also printing preparations of publications by the Commission of Archaeology and Palaeontology Research. They are usually presented in tracing paper or heavy thick paper for sheets and the techniques used are copies in graphite and red chalk, charcoal and brush drawings.