Meeting held Friday 11 April 2008
Present
Peter Scott (Chairman)
Simon Burke
Professor David Ekserdjian
James Fenton
Mark Getty
Lady Heseltine
Professor Dame Julia Higgins
Michael Hintze
Lord Kerr
John Lessore
Lady Normanby
Ranjit Sondhi
Apologies
Professor Mervyn King
Patricia Lankester
In attendance
Dr Nicholas Penny (Director)
Martin Wyld (Director of Conservation)
Kate Howe (Secretary to the Board)
David Jaffé (Senior Curator) for items 1 and 2
Christopher Riopelle (Curator of 19th Century paintings) for item 1
Luke Syson (Curator of Italian Paintings 1460 to1500) for item1
Bruce Minty (Interim Director of Resources) for item 5
Chris Yates (former Director of Resources) for item 5
Pictures for treatment
1. The Board saw in the course of treatment 'The Virgin and Child', Italian, Umbrian (NG6572); 'The Man of Sorrows', Italian, Umbrian (NG6573); 'A Lady teaching a Child to read, and a Child playing with a Dog (‘La Maîtresse d’école’)' by Caspar Netscher (NG844); 'Portrait of a Lady' by Caspar Netscher (NG4790) and 'Birds, Butterflies and a Frog among Plants and Fungi' by Melchior d’Hondecoeter (NG1222).
The Board asked to see NG6572 and NG6573 again before retouching was started. The Board approved the treatment proposed for 'The Virgin and Child with Two Angels' attributed to Andrea del Verrocchio (NG296) and 'Straw Weavers at Settignano' by Telemaco Signorini (M1293).
Loans out
2. The Board noted the report on loans out; the Senior Curator confirmed that page 7 of the report should have stated that the requested loan of NG4865 was agreed, while the request for NG4167 was refused. It was confirmed that the Gallery held no list of pictures which were unfit to travel, but that decisions were made on a case by case basis.
Minutes of the last meeting and matters arising
3. The Board approved the minutes of the meeting held on 7 March 2008. They were later signed by the Chairman.
Information has been excluded under s43 FOI 2000.
Director’s report
4. The Board approved the issue of a Trustees’ privilege pass for one year to the Gallery’s Associate Artist in recognition of her work with the Collection and to enable her to complete that work. The Board agreed that, for the future, decisions concerning the issue of such passes should be made by the Board.
The Board agreed that while they should continue to receive information on visitor numbers in its current format on a monthly basis, this information should be supplemented every six months with a more detailed report analysing such figures.
Information has been excluded under s 43 FOI 2000.
Corporate plan
5. The Board approved the Corporate Plan subject to a number of minor amendments.
Minutes of Committees of the Board
6. The Board noted the Minutes of the Audit and Finance Committee meetings of 13 March and the Minutes of the Nominations Committee meetings of 8 February and 7 March.
A Trustee asked for confirmation of the remit of the Finance Committee in relation to one specific area, which the Chairman agreed to confirm.
Audit report recommendations
7. The Board considered and approved (subject to minor changes) the recommendations made by the internal auditor in his report on damage to NG6396, which recommendations had already been considered and approved by the Audit Committee.
IP rights in work produced by Gallery employees
8. The Board considered the request by the former Director of the Gallery to the vesting in him of the copyright to a short history of the Gallery written by him while Director of the Gallery, and agreed that, notwithstanding the general policy in this area, in the particular circumstances it would be appropriate to vest the copyright in the author, subject to confirmation of one point.
Picture movements
9. The Board noted the report on picture movements.
Any other business
10. The Chairman reminded Trustees to put forward names of those who might be invited to the annual Trustees’ dinner in future years.
Copies of previous Board minutes can be obtained from the Libraries and Archive department.
Confidential and sensitive information has been excluded from these published minutes in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000