1. Patronage, Acquisition and Display: Contextualising the Art Collections of Longford Castle during the Long Eighteenth Century

Birkbeck College, University of London (School of Arts)/The National Gallery, London

2. Sir Philip Hendy (1900-1980) director and scholar in Leeds and London 1934-1967: the acquisition and display of art and curatorial practices in ages of austerity

University of Leeds/The National Gallery, London

While Hendy was responsible for some major acquisitions over his long tenure (1946-1967), what’s striking is how many mistakes he made.

Letting David’s Napoleon in his Study go in favour of purchasing this Tiepolo sketch: he seems to have had a particular interest in 18thc Italian works.

Acquiring the only wrong “Rembrandt” from Chatsworth.

And a Giorgione which is substantially not original (putting it politely), even if it could definitely be attributed to him.

Then there’s the Delacroix which never was, and, similarly, the Pontormo  and the Cavallino which turned out, quite quickly, not to be so.

Also a Batoni which, in near forty years of visiting the National Gallery, has never been exhibited in the main rooms.

And there was the controversies over the Renoir dancers at £163,000 in 1961 and the early version of Rubens’ Judgement – when, again, his great Daniel in the Lions’ Den went to Washington

On the plus side, there’s the Burlington Cartoon and getting extra money out of HM Treasury – at a time when was possible to do so – to help buy the Uccello St George*, Monet’s large Waterlilies and Cezanne’s Large Bathers.