{{short description|Director of the National Gallery in London|bot=PearBOT 5}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Use British English|date=July 2015}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = Sir | name = Gabriele Finaldi | honorific_suffix = | image = Gabriele Finaldi 2023 November Hong Kong Palace Museum (cropped).jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Finaldi in 2023 | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1965|11|28}} | birth_place = Barnet, London | education = Dulwich College | alma_mater = Courtauld Institute of Art | occupation = {{flatlist| *Art historian *Curator }} | order = | office = Director of the National Gallery | status = <!--If this is specified, overrides Incumbent.--> | term_start = 17 August 2015 | term_end = <!-- Add data only when the actual term has ended, not for terms which will end in the future. (Per usage guideline.) --> | predecessor = Sir Nicholas Penny | successor = | awards = Knight Bachelor ribbon|40px Knight Bachelor }} '''Sir Gabriele Maria Finaldi''' (born 28 November 1965) is a British art historian and curator, with Italian citizenship.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.quirinale.it/elementi/55436|title=Granting of Italian citizenship to Gabriele Maria Finaldi personal}}</ref> Since August 2015, he has been director of the National Gallery in London, England.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/officers/7sR1XR70CUE7szRKYEcG6dP0ml8/appointments|title=Gabriele Maria FINALDI personal appointments – Find and update company information – GOV.UK}}</ref>
==Early life and education== Finaldi was born in Barnet and raised in Catford in south London, the son of a Neapolitan father and a half-Polish-half-English mother.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/apr/27/national-gallery-gabriele-finaldi-interview|title=The National Gallery's new boss: 'I can't deny I am strongly European'|website=The Guardian|date=27 April 2016}}</ref> He was educated at Dulwich College before studying art history at The Courtauld Institute of Art, where he completed his BA degree in 1987, an MA in 1989 and a PhD in 1995.<ref>[https://courtauld.ac.uk/about-us/governance/governing-board/ Governing Board] – website of The Courtauld Institute of Art</ref> His doctoral research focused on the 17th-century Spanish Baroque painter Jusepe de Ribera.<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/mar/18/national-gallery-in-london-picks-prado-deputy-chief-as-new-director|first=Mark|last=Brown|date=18 August 2015|title=National Gallery in London picks Prado deputy chief as new director|newspaper=The Guardian|accessdate=18 March 2015}}</ref>
==Career== Finaldi has curated exhibitions in the UK, Spain, Italy and Belgium and has written catalogues and scholarly articles on Velázquez and Zurbarán, on Italian Baroque painting, on religious iconography, and on Picasso.<ref name="bio – NG">{{citation|url=http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/about-us/organisation/director/|title=Director|publisher=National Gallery|accessdate=15 January 2016|archive-date=13 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160113123251/http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/about-us/organisation/director/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Finaldi was a curator at the National Gallery between 1992 and 2002. He was responsible for the later Italian paintings in the collection (Caravaggio to Canaletto) and the Spanish collection (Bermejo to Goya).<ref name="bio – NG" /> In 2002 he was appointed deputy director for collections and research at the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid, Spain.<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/gabriele-finaldi-new-director|title=Gabriele Finaldi announced as new Director of the National Gallery|date=18 March 2015|publisher=National Gallery|accessdate=18 March 2015|archive-date=20 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150320164748/http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/gabriele-finaldi-new-director|url-status=dead}}</ref> At the Prado he oversaw the project to build a new extension in 2007, the creation of the Research Centre, and curated major exhibitions on Ribera (in 2011) and Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (in 2012).<ref name="Telegraph">{{citation|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/11480102/Gabriele-Finaldi-the-perfect-man-for-the-National-job.html|first=Richard|last=Dorment|date=18 March 2015|title=Gabriele Finaldi: the perfect man for the National job|newspaper=The Telegraph|accessdate=18 March 2015}}</ref>
On 17 August 2015, Finaldi returned to the National Gallery having been appointed its director.<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-31929716|title=Gabriele Finaldi appointed head of National Gallery|publisher=BBC|date=18 March 2015|accessdate=18 March 2015}}</ref>
Finaldi was knighted in the 2025 New Year Honours for services to art and culture.<ref name=":1">{{London Gazette | issue = 64607 | date = 30 December 2024 | page = N2 | supp = y }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{National Gallery directors}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Finaldi, Gabriele}} Category:1965 births Category:Living people Category:Alumni of the Courtauld Institute of Art Category:Directors of the National Gallery, London Category:English curators Category:English art historians Category:English people of Italian descent Category:English people of Polish descent Category:Historians from London Category:Knights Bachelor Category:People educated at Dulwich College Category:People from Catford Category:People from the London Borough of Barnet