all images © National Gallery, London.
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“LOOKING SIDEWAYS” Sir Gabriele Finaldi: A Life In Paintings. Interviewed by Trevor Llewelyn (72–79)
Dulwich Beginnings: A Turning Point Gabriele Finaldi’s first day at the College was not as a ‘new bug’ in JA or JB or even in the Lower School. His first day in September 1982 was as a ‘Remove’ student in the Upper School. “When you join a school in the Sixth Form,” he says, “a lot of the friendships have been established. It took time to settle”. Gabriele had been through “various schools” and had for a while, lived abroad: “I’d been to Italy as a 15-year-old… in Piacenza.” Returning to England, he found himself at a Catholic comprehensive in Blackheath but quickly felt that it was not for him. He therefore asked his parents for a change, and they found a route via the assisted places scheme for him to attend Dulwich College. Once here, he says, the standard was “immensely stimulating intellectually… the standard of learning… very high.” He remembers one teacher in particular, a historian who treated boys like undergraduates. “John Saxon… really taught us as though we were university students,” he says, and something in that seriousness lifted the room. “I worked very, very hard when I was at Dulwich College. I was only there for two years,” he says. He began with five A-levels, then accepted reality with Music being the casualty of his choices leaving him to study History, Italian, History of Art and English. Looking back now he is aware of the possible missed opportunities because of his academic singlemindedness and wishes he might have taken fuller advantage of the co-curricular opportunities that the College offered. Dulwich, for him, was formative, though not uncomplicated. “Was it the happiest period of my life? Probably not,” he says, but it did “steer me towards my future career.” The Pauline Conversion: Discovering History Of Art Sir Gabriele Finaldi’s relationship with art started not in a grand museum but two hundred metres down the road from the College gates. For most College students the Dulwich Picture Gallery was a place either avoided or visited briefly with works of art quickly sketched and possibly just as quickly discarded. For Gabriele, his first visit hit him like revelation. He calls it his “Pauline conversion” – sudden, decisive and, as it proved, life‑altering. His first class was with Giles Waterfield, then director of Dulwich Picture Gallery. The lesson was on Rembrandt. Students were asked to talk about a painting in the gallery. Finaldi chose ‘Girl at a Window’. “I was immediately attracted to the closeness that you feel to the creative talent of these artists by looking closely at their works – and not in reproduction, the works themselves,” he says, “and I felt that that’s where I wanted to be”.
There is a subtle principle here that will recur throughout his career: the insistence on the object itself – not the idea of it, not the online image, not the slide in a lecture – but the physical painting, with its scale and textured surface. The Courtauld Gamble: Choosing The Path Finaldi was, by his own account, regarded as a strong student. The expectation, as he remembers it, was Oxbridge. But he chose the Courtauld Institute of Art. “I was single-mindedly aiming to go to the Courtauld,” he says. “In fact, I only put the Courtauld on my university application form … I suppose it was quite a gamble.” Why such commitment? Partly, he says, because he didn’t want to leave home. He is the eldest of many siblings, and he wanted to remain near them. Partly because the Courtauld was in London — accessible, concentrated, intense. At that time, the Courtauld was based in a small 18th century house in Portman Square and was where he had his first taste of curating an exhibition. As an undergraduate, he was, he says, “very lucky” to help create a small display about Rubens with renowned restorer, Noni Tasca. The appeal was immediate “I got a real a sense of achievement from it,” he says. Postgraduate Hustle: The Christmas Postman Years Finaldi married in his last year at the Courtauld. “All of a sudden,” he says, “it became rather essential to earn some money.” He did what he could. He was a musician, playing with a dance band around London hotels and did seasonal work: “I was a Christmas postman.” He also taught History of Art at Blackheath High School for Girls. “My intention was to get back quickly to doing an MA,” he says. He did the MA at the Courtauld, then “went straight on for PhD.” And then, he arrived at the National Gallery. Age 26: A Curator Walks Into Trafalgar Square “Age 26 I got the job at the National Gallery,” he says, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. He arrived in what he describes as “a senior curatorial position,” with responsibility for the later Italian collection – “Caravaggio through to Tiepolo” – and “the entire Spanish collection.” He doesn’t pretend that such doors would open so readily these days. “I think that wouldn’t happen nowadays,” he says. The field has expanded; credentials have multiplied; people do stints at major American museums; competition is fiercer. History of Art became fashionable; courses proliferated; the ladder lengthened. Finaldi believes he was “very fortunate to be there early on: “fortune, of course, only carries you to the door. Once inside, you must justify the trust.”
2025 was a stellar year for Gabriele Finaldi (82-84). He celebrated a decade as Director of the National Gallery and was awarded a knighthood in the New Year Honours List. The Gallery’s bicentenary year concluded in the spring with an award-winning exhibition of Van Gogh, a full rehang of the permanent collection and the opening of the revamped Sainsbury Wing entrance.
A Pair Of Rembrandts: What He Would Show Dulwich College Students First When asked where he would take Dulwich College students on a tour of the National Gallery, Gabriele hesitated for a moment and then replied, “Probably something that connects with the Dulwich Picture Gallery, so I would say the Rembrandt self-portrait age 34, one of the two Rembrandt portraits that we have here at the Gallery. The painting shows the artist on the ascendency, someone with lots of ambition and who wants to associate himself with the great tradition of painting. The composition is based on a very famous Titian, ‘Man with a Quilted Sleeve’, that also happens to be in our collection. I would want to show them the self-portrait and then link it to the four works of Rembrandt displayed at the Dulwich Picture Gallery. Finally, I would connect it (the Rembrandt) with Titian’s piece and talk about the way in which artists always want to be innovative and original while also wanting to be part of a tradition.
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