Name Cecil Gould | Role Art Historian | |
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Died April 7, 1994, Chard, United Kingdom Books The Paintings of Correggio, Bernini in France Education Westminster School, Courtauld Institute of Art | ||
Cecil Hilton Monk Gould (24 May 1918 – 7 April 1994) was a British art historian and curator who specialised in Renaissance painting. He was a former Keeper and Deputy Director of the National Gallery in London.
Life
Born in 1918, Gould was the son of Rupert Gould, the restorer of John Harrison’s chronometers, and Muriel Estall. Gould was educated at Kingswood House preparatory school, near Epsom, and then at Westminster School. After leaving school he studied at the Courtauld Institute. During the Second World War he served as Pilot Officer Gould in R.A.F. Intelligence, first in Egypt from 1941 to 1943, and then in Normandy, France. After the war he joined the National Gallery staff in 1946, and worked there until his retirement in 1987. He was Keeper and Deputy Director for the last five years of his tenure. He was a prolific author, publishing many books and articles during his career.
In 1970, Gould established that the National Gallery’s Portrait of Pope Julius II was the prime version by Raphael and not a copy, as had previously been thought. He was also responsible for a new attribution of a work to Michelangelo.
In his last years Gould lived with his sister Jocelyne Stacey in the village of Thorncombe, West Dorset. He developed a brain tumour and after a short illness, died on 7 April 1994. Gould never married and was survived by Jocelyne. A collection of Gould's large format black and white photographs of Islamic architecture in Cairo, taken during World War II, is in the RIBA library. Gould was portrayed during his childhood in the 2000 Channel 4 television drama about Harrison's chronometers, Longitude. He was played by child actor Joe Williams.