Minutes of a meeting of the Board held on Thursday 21 November 2024
Present
John Booth CVO DL (Chair)
Diana Berry
Catherine Goodman CBE LVO
Katrin Henkel
Sir John Kingman KCB FRS
James Lambert OBE
Rosemary Leith
David Marks
Dounia Nadar
Rosalind Nashashibi
Tonya Nelson
Stuart Roden
Professor Dame Molly Stevens DBE FRS FREng
Andrew Truby (Board Apprentice)
Apologies
Andrew Marr
In attendance
Dr Gabriele Finaldi - Director
Paul Gray - Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer
Victoria Hayes - Secretary to the Board and Head of Governance (Minutes)
Andy Hibbert - Chief Financial Officer
Jane Knowles - Director of Public Engagement
Anh Nguyen - Director of Development
Susan Noonan - Chief Commercial Officer
Christine Riding - Director of Collections and Research
John Stack - Director of Digital Innovation and Technology
Larry Keith - Keeper and Head of Conservation for item 1
Per Rumberg - The Jacob Rothschild Head of the Curatorial Department for item 1
Dr Emma Capron - Curator of Early Netherlandish and German Paintings for item 1
Jill Dunkerton - Restorer for item 1
Dr Laura Llewellyn - Curator of Italian Paintings, Pre-1500 for item 1
Sarah Younger - NG200 Project Director for item 6
1. At the start of the meeting, Trustees were taken on a tour of the construction sites.
2. Pictures for treatment:
2.1. In the conservation studio, the Head of Conservation and Keeper showed the Board, following treatment, Jan Van Eyck’s Portrait of a Man (Self Portrait?) (NG222), Petrus Christus’s Portrait of a Young Man (NG2593),
Matteo di Giovanni’s Assumption of the Virgin, (NG1155) and Claude Lorrain’s Landscape with Cephalus and Procris reunited by Diana, (NG2). The Board approved the paintings as being ready to go back on display
2.2. Trustees were shown Portrait of Susanna Lunden (?) (Le Chapeau de Paille), (NG852) and A Landscape with a Shepherd and his Flock, (NG157), by Peter Paul Rubens, Antonello da Messina’s Saint Jerome in his Study (NG1418) and Portrait of a Lady in Red (NG585), Italian, Florentine School, for which they had examination reports. The Board approved the treatments proposed.
3. Declarations of Interest
3.1. A Trustee declared that their daughter would be participating in the Articulation programme.
4. Minutes from the meeting held on 26 September 2024 and matters arising:
4.1. The Minutes from the meeting held on 26 September were approved.
4.2. There were no matters arising.
5. Director’s Report:
5.1. The Director gave his presentation. He reported that Van Gogh’s Poets and Lovers exhibition continued to do extremely well, with record numbers of tickets being sold.
5.2. He said that Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300-1350, an exhibition being done in partnership with The Met in New York, opened in New York in October and was receiving excellent reviews. He said it would open in London in early March.
5.3. He said that John Gibson’s bust of Anna Jameson, namesake of the Women and the Arts Forum’s annual lecture, on long term loan from the National Portrait Gallery was on display in the Portico entrance.
5.4. He reported that Art Road Trip, halfway through its programme of visits all over the United Kingdom, was proving a great success in reaching communities who have very limited access to culture.
5.5. He said that the National Gallery Visits programme was visiting Parliament from 25 November to mark 200 years since the establishment of the National Gallery through an Act of Parliament, and the painting being displayed is Claude Lorrain’s Seaport with the Embarkation of Saint Ursula.
6. Update on NG200 Welcome and Bicentenary Programme:
6.1. The NG200 Project Director joined the meeting and updated the Board on progress in the NG200 Welcome projects. Progress in the Bicentenary Programme was noted.
7. Approval of the Trustee Handbook and Trustees’ Conflicts of Interest Policy
7.1. The Trustee Handbook was approved.
7.2. The Trustees’ Conflicts of Interest Policy was approved.
8. Committees of the Board and others, reporting since the last Board meeting:
8.1. The Minutes of the Masterplan Committee held on 17 September were noted. The Chair of the Masterplan Committee updated Trustees on the meeting held on 11 November.
8.2. The Minutes from the Digital Advisory Board meetings held on 20 September and 5 November were noted.
8.3. The Minutes of the Finance Committee held on 21 October were noted. The Chief Financial Officer gave the Board a brief overview of the forecast for the next three years.
8.4. The Minutes of the Audit Committee held on 21 October were noted.
8.5. The Minutes of the Corporate & Donations Review Committee held on 18 June, 3 September and 31 October were noted.
8.6. The Chairman updated Trustees on a Development Committee meeting held on 14 November.
9. Management Accounts and Development Report:
9.1. The Chief Financial Officer presented the Management Accounts which were noted.
9.2. The Director of Development presented the Development Report which was noted.
10. Report from the Chief Commercial Officer:
10.1. The Chief Commercial Officer presented her paper, which was noted.
11. Annual Safeguarding Report:
11.1. The Safeguarding Trustee presented the report, which was noted.
12. Appointment of Class A American Friends of the National Gallery (AFNGL) Directors:
12.1. The Board approved the appointment of Andrew Marr and the re-appointment of Mark Getty KBE and John Booth CVO, DL as Class A Directors of AFNGL.
12.2. The Chair reported that a successful AFNGL AGM had been held at the National Gallery earlier in the month, at which he had been appointed Chair of AFNGL.
13. AOB:
13.1. The Chair thanked Katrin Henkel and Rosemary Leith for their tireless work in support of the Gallery over the previous eight years and noted with regret their departure from the Board.
13.2. He noted that this was also the final meeting for Andy Truby, the Board’s Apprentice, thanked him for agreeing to participate in the scheme and wished him well for the future.
13.3. The Board approved the appointment of Stuart Roden to Remuneration Committee and of Catherine Goodman CBE, LVO to Nominations Committee.
John Booth
Chair