Cecil Gould

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. During World War 2, Gould was one of the Monuments Men.

Life Born in London in 1918, Gould was the son of Admiralty Lieutenant-Commander Rupert Gould, the restorer of John Harrison's chronometers and well-known panellist of the BBC's "Brains Trust" programme during WWII, and Muriel Estall. Gould was educated at Kingswood House preparatory school, near Epsom, and then at Westminster School. When he was nine, Gould's mother permanently separated from his father and raised Cecil and his sister Jocelyne. After leaving school he began studying at the Courtauld Institute in 1939, although he was not able to complete his degree due to the outbreak of World War II. 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 younger sister Jocelyne Stacey in the village of Thorncombe, Dorset. Towards the end of his life, with his health declining, Cecil was made a correspondant (foreign associate) of the Institut de France. 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. Other photographs taken by Gould are held in the Conway Library at the Courtauld Institute and are currently being digitised.

Gould was portrayed during his childhood in the 2000 Channel 4 television drama about John Harrison's chronometers, Longitude. He was played by child actor Joe Williams.

Partial bibliography The Sixteenth Century Venetian School 1959, (National Gallery Catalogue Series) The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools (excluding the Venetian) 1962, (National Gallery Catalogue Series) The last two were revised and combined as: The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools 1975, (National Gallery Catalogue Series) Trophy of Conquest: The Musee Napoleon and the Creation of the Louvre 1965, Faber & Faber Michelangelo: Battle of Cascina 1966, University of Newcastle upon Tyne Titian 1969, Hamlyn (with Martin Davies) French School: Early 19th Century Impressionists, Post-Impressionists etc. 1970, (National Gallery Catalogue Series) Leonardo: The Artist and the Non-Artist 1975, Weidenfeld and Nicolson The Paintings of Correggio 1978, Cornell University Press Bernini in France: An Episode in Seventeenth Century History 1981, Weidenfeld and Nicolson Parmigianino 1995, Abbeville Press