Without question the refurbishment and redisplay of the Courtauld Gallery, London, unveiled on 19th November last year, has resulted in a much more enjoyable experience for visitors. Carried out by the architects Witherford Watson Mann over the past three years at a cost of £57 million, the project has been funded by £11 million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund together with grants from a number of private foundations, whose names – Blavatnik, LVMH, Garfield Weston – are now emblazoned in gold on the Gallery’s walls.

Museum acquisitions can be transformative and often lead to exhibitions that stimulate research in new directions. The purchase by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, of Francesco Salviati’s portrait of the medical doctor and academician Carlo Rimbotti in 2017 provided the impetus for the recent exhibition of Medici portraits.