National Gallery names Gabriele Finaldi as director
Finaldi to take over from Nicholas Penny in August
Gabriele Finaldi has been appointed as the director of the National Gallery in London.
Finaldi, who is currently the deputy director for collections and research at the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid, will take up his new position on 17 August.
He will replace the gallery’s current director Nicholas Penny, who announced his retirement in summer 2014.
Finaldi, who is a British citizen, has been with Museo Nacional del Prado since 2002.
Between 1992 and 2002 he was a curator at the National Gallery, where he was responsible for the later Italian paintings in the collection (Caravaggio to Canaletto) and the Spanish collection (Bermejo to Goya).
Born in London, the 49-year-old studied art history at Dulwich College and then at the Courtauld Institute of Art, where his doctoral research focused on the 17th-century painter Jusepe de Ribera.
The timing of the announcement on the same day as the Budget 2015 has been described by Mark Serwotka, the general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union, as a “cynical move” designed to bury news about ongoing strikes at the gallery.
A fresh wave of industrial action at the National Gallery started last week after officials at the gallery rejected the union’s proposals to make changes to rotas and flexible working. PCS claimed this would avoid the privatisation of the gallery’s visitor services. A five-day strike also took place in February.
The National Gallery has been contacted for comment.
Finaldi, who is currently the deputy director for collections and research at the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid, will take up his new position on 17 August.
He will replace the gallery’s current director Nicholas Penny, who announced his retirement in summer 2014.
Finaldi, who is a British citizen, has been with Museo Nacional del Prado since 2002.
Between 1992 and 2002 he was a curator at the National Gallery, where he was responsible for the later Italian paintings in the collection (Caravaggio to Canaletto) and the Spanish collection (Bermejo to Goya).
Born in London, the 49-year-old studied art history at Dulwich College and then at the Courtauld Institute of Art, where his doctoral research focused on the 17th-century painter Jusepe de Ribera.
The timing of the announcement on the same day as the Budget 2015 has been described by Mark Serwotka, the general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union, as a “cynical move” designed to bury news about ongoing strikes at the gallery.
A fresh wave of industrial action at the National Gallery started last week after officials at the gallery rejected the union’s proposals to make changes to rotas and flexible working. PCS claimed this would avoid the privatisation of the gallery’s visitor services. A five-day strike also took place in February.
The National Gallery has been contacted for comment.