Minutes of the Board meeting held on Thursday 21 November 2019
Present
Sir John Kingman (Interim Chair)
Catherine Goodman
Dame Moya Greene
Douglas Gurr
Lord Hall of Birkenhead
Katrin Henkel
Rosemary Leith
David Marks
Tonya Nelson
Stuart Roden
Charles Sebag-Montefiore
John Singer
Professor Molly Stevens
Apologies
None
In attendance
Dr Gabriele Finaldi - Director
Dr Caroline Campbell - Director of Collections and Research
Dr Susan Foister - Director of Public Programmes and Partnerships (Deputy Director)
Paul Gray - Chief Operating Office
Victoria Hayes - Secretary to the Board and Head of Governance
Andy Hibbert - Director of Finance
Chris Michaels - Director of Digital, Communications and Technology
Julie Molloy - Managing Director of National Gallery Company Limited
Anh Nguyen - Director of Development
Larry Keith - Head of Conservation and Keeper (for items 1-6)
Christine Riding - The Jacob Rothschild Head of the Curatorial Department (for items 1-6)
Christopher Riopelle - Neil Westreich Curator of Post 1800 Paintings (for item 1)
Jill Dunkerton - Restorer (for item 1)
1. Pictures for treatment
1.1. In the upper conservation studio, the Director introduced the three new Trustees (Catherine Goodman, Lord Hall and Stuart Roden) to the Head of Conservation and Keeper. The Board saw Anthony van Dyck’s Equestrian Portrait of Charles I (NG1172) which is in the process of being treated. The Head of Conservation and Keeper encouraged the Trustees to watch a National Gallery film on YouTube showing restoration of the painting in progress, as part of the Getty Foundation’s Conserving Canvas initiative. The Board moved to the conservation studio where following completion of treatment, they saw Portrait of a Man (‘Leal Souvenir’) by Jan van Eyck (NG290). The Board approved the work as ready to go back on display
1.2. Information has been excluded under s 22 FOI 2000
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1.6. The Head of Conservation and Keeper gave a demonstration of a Hirox microscope, recently acquired for the Gallery.
The interim Chair welcomed the new Trustees to their first Board meeting and thanked the Director for the interesting tour of the conservation studios. He reported that the Board had discussed Leonardo: Experience a Masterpiece during lunch with the Director and had agreed that whilst there were important and valuable lessons to be learned, it was a good initiative and exciting that the Gallery was doing an exhibition of this kind and hoped they would build on the experience to do more in the future.
2. Declarations of interest
2.1. None
3. Minutes of 19 September and matters arising
3.1. The Board approved the Minutes of 19 September and the Chair was authorised to sign them as a true record of the meeting.
3.2. The Secretary to the Board and Head of Governance reported that, at the September meeting, the Board had asked for a review of the Gallery’s approach to image and data licensing, and that this was ongoing.
3.3. Information has been excluded under s 36 and s 43 FOI 2000.
3.4. Information has been excluded under s 36 FOI 2000.
4. Loans out
4.1. The Jacob Rothschild Head of the Curatorial Department introduced herself to the new Trustees and presented the Loans Out paper, highlighting a few things.
4.2. Information has been excluded under s 22 FOI 2000
4.3 The Director drew the Board’s attention to the loan to the Wallace Collection of Peter Paul Rubens’s An Autumn Landscape with a View of Het Steen in the Early Morning, agreed in principle by the Board in September and which will be displayed alongside its pair, the Wallace Collection’s 'The Rainbow Landscape', also by Rubens, for the first time since 1815. He said that there has been a lot of press coverage and that the Wallace Collection are lending Titian’s 'Perseus and Andromeda', an equally significant loan, for next year’s exhibition Titian – Love, Desire, Death. This would mean that all six of Titian’s so-called 'poesie' paintings would be reunited. He said that it is the first time the Wallace Collection have been able to make loans. The Interim Chair congratulated the Director for helping to achieve such a significant breakthrough.
4.4. A Trustee commented that it was encouraging to see so many domestic loans and asked if a simple schedule could be prepared in order to make it easier for the Trustees to keep track of what is being agreed. The Director confirmed that a paper would be presented to the meeting in January.
4.5. There was a discussion about the extent to which the Gallery lends nationally and whether there should be more publicity when it does. The Director said that the Artemisia Visits tour earlier in the year and the recent loan of George Stubbs’s Whistlejacket to MK Gallery, Milton Keynes were good examples of reaching out nationally, with plenty of publicity surrounding both. The Director of Digital, Communications and Technology said that all the information about the national touring programme is on the website. The interim Chair said that there has been continuing interest in this area from the Board for some time, and that it would be useful for a paper to be presented to the Board.
4.6 The Board approved all the proposed loans out.
5. Proposed acquisitions
5.1. Information has been excluded under s 22 and s 43 FOI 2000
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6. Funding for Orazio Gentileschi's 'The Finding of Moses'
6.1. Information has been excluded under s 22 and s 43 FOI 2000
7. Director's report
7.1. The Director presented his written report.
7.2. Information has been excluded under s 22 and s 36 FOI 2000.
7.3. He said that 'Lucretia' by Artemisia Gentileschi had recently sold at an auction in Paris for £4.7m and that the growing interest in her paintings should be beneficial to the Gallery’s exhibition in 2020.
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7.6. The Director showed an image of Vasari’s 'Allegory of Patience', on loan from The Klesch Collection, which was hung in the Gallery that morning.
7.7. The Director reported that the National Portrait Gallery is closing for three years from June 2020 while a major building project gets underway to move the entrance. He said that they are keen to maintain a profile while closed and the Gallery is in discussions as to which pictures may be loaned.
8. Information has been excluded under s 22 FOI 2000
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10. Revenue fundraising strategy
10.1. The Director of Development presented her paper, and a discussion followed. The Chair of the Development Committee said that he was fully behind the strategy.
10.2. Information has been excluded under s 43 FOI 2000.
10.3. The Board endorsed the ambition and plan expressed in the paper and approved the strategy.
11. Update on National Gallery Trust (NGT) meeting of 21 October 2019
11.1. Information has been excluded under s 36 and s 43 FOI 2000
12. Committees of the Board and other reports
12.1. The Board noted the Minutes of the Audit and Finance Committees of 10 October 2019
12.1.1. Information has been excluded under s 36 FOI 2000
12.2. The Board noted the Minutes of the Masterplan Committee of 17 September and 15 October 2019.
12.2.1. Information has been excluded under s 36 and s 43 FOI 2000
12.3. Report from the Chair of the Digital Advisory Group
12.3.1. The Chair said that the Group had met in October and had a useful presentation from Jemma Read, one of the members of the Group.
12.4. Report from the Chair of the Development Committee
12.4.1. The Chair of the Development Committee reported that the first meeting of the newly-convened group had had a positive meeting on 15 October. He said that now the Head of Learning and National Programmes had started, more emphasis could be given to educational projects. He said there were many ideas in the Development team and that the Director of Development had made an excellent start.
12.5. Report from the Chair of the NGC
12.5.1. Information has been excluded under s 43 FOI 2000
13. Report on progress and plans in the Digital, Communications and Technology Directorate
13.1. The Director of Digital, Communications and Technology presented his report, and gave a presentation on Membership and NGX.
13.2. He reported that digital is becoming embedded throughout the organisation. He said that the Gallery now has 30,000 members and that there is no longer a requirement for members to book an online ticket.
13.3. He explained that the purpose of NGX, which the Gallery had launched in September, was to enable the Gallery to experiment with questions about what the future of museums and galleries looks like and how technology might change and improve visitor experience. He said it was a collaboration with King’s College and would bring artists, technology and the Gallery together. He said that NGX would host 6 residencies.
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14. Management Accounts Report
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15. Appointment of Trustees to American Friends of the National Gallery, London (AFNGL)
15.1. The Board approved the re-appointment of the Class A Directors. The interim Chair explained that the Chair of AFNGL had agreed to stay on until the new Chair of the National Gallery Board was appointed.
16. Update on Ways of Working Programme
16.1. The Chief Operating Officer presented the paper, which he said was for information.
17. AOB
17.1. Information has been excluded under s 43 FOI 2000