Associate Curator of Paintings 1600–1800 – The National Gallery, London

Institution: The National Gallery
Deadline: 23 November 2025
Location: London, UK
Contract: Permanent, full-time (35 hours/week)
Salary: £47,355 per annum
Department: Collections and Research

The National Gallery is recruiting an Associate Curator of Paintings 1600–1800 to support the Curators of Later Italian, Spanish & French Paintings and Dutch & Flemish Paintings. The role focuses on the care, development and interpretation of the Gallery’s Baroque collection, alongside scholarly research, publications and curatorial leadership within the department.

Responsibilities

• Support senior Curators in caring for, researching and growing the Baroque paintings collection.
• Lead and contribute to scholarly catalogues, publications, and research outputs.
• Propose and curate exhibitions, special displays and online content.
• Oversee acquisitions and loans, maintain relationships with lenders and collectors.
• Manage documentation, provenance enquiries, export licence cases and spoliation matters.
• Contribute to gallery refurbishment projects and oversee associated displays.
• Collaborate with Conservation, Science, Art Handling and other teams on study and care of paintings.
• Contribute to public programmes, digital content and academic teaching (MA/PhD).
• Support fundraising initiatives and steward patrons.
• Line-manage a Curatorial Fellow and supervise students.

Candidate Profile / Requirements

• Significant curatorial experience with Old Master paintings, especially Baroque.
• Strong research background with a substantial publication record.
• Confident public speaker with experience addressing specialist and general audiences.
• Skilled communicator able to explain complex decisions to varied stakeholders.
• Proven ability to manage multiple complex projects and deadlines simultaneously.
• Experience leading teams, line-managing staff and managing budgets.
• Postgraduate degree in Art History (or equivalent expertise) with specialisation in Italian/Spanish or Dutch/Flemish paintings.
• Fluent English and proficiency (or potential proficiency) in another language at CEFR C1, ideally Italian.
• Willingness to travel and work occasionally outside normal hours.
• Strong understanding of the National Gallery’s collection and advisory role.