National Gallery Page #8

these pictures speak

to people across time.

Leonardo created

a kind of archive of drawings,

and they're about invention

and they're about observation,

and they're about looking

and thinking and so on.

And they're... and he kept some of those,

and they go on being an extraordinary

point of reference for each new stage.

He's an artist who constantly refines and

revisits certain themes over and over again.

And really, as I say, in doing that,

each of these works

becomes ever more considered,

ever more felt, as well.

And that's the difference

between him and his pupils.

It's really in his... it's really in his...

That's the difference

between him and his pupils.

It's really in his pupils' work

that you just don't see that.

You can see motifs being repeated,

you can see beautiful craft,

but you don't see

that exquisiteness of thought.

- OK, great, thanks.

- OK.

Great, thanks very much.

So, I've already taken

some samples.

I took a couple to look at the varnish,

cos, as you can probably see,

with a bit of an angle,

there's a varnish layer

which shows up clearly.

- It doesn't come all the way to the edge.

- OK.

There's a sort of drip

of it that's running down here.

Stops there, does it?

Yeah.

So I've taken some to look at the varnish,

and then my other samples mainly

concentrate on this brown layer,

which is the layer that seems

to have contracted and pulled

and reticulated across the surface.

What's interesting, I suppose,

from my point of view,

is how that layer relates

to the paint below,

and how... how it sits on the surface,

whether it's separated from the paint

by anything in between.

And if we can see a bit more

about the layer in cross-section,

whether it's got pigment in it.

So those types of things will be

very interesting about a sample, so...

a cross-section sample.

So, given this varnish layer

goes to the border,

- it would be perfectly all right...

- Mm, we could lake...

- ...to look at that border...

- Exactly.

...In a place where there's

a damage, really.

I'm sort of looking up there, in a way,

because, although

there's this large loss here,

that may not actually have that layer...

- Yeah.

- ...reaching that point.

But up there, I think it probably does.

- Do you think? Perhaps...

- That might be worth looking at.

- And I think the comers all have damage...

- Yeah.

...where, in the past,

from framing problems...

- so it might be worth looking up there.

- Mm.

But for the complete sequence of layers,

probably, one's best confined to that...

- that pan, because, as you say...

- I think so. Yeah.

So, really, let's have

a little look up at the top.

OK. Get the microscope on.

Cos there are these damages here.

You could probably be quite safe

taking some here.

As a preliminary, that's the thing

we ought to look at, really.

I think that should do it, actually.

So... that's a very tiny bit,

just from the edge,

of the sort of inner side of the damage.

I don't know, can you even see it, actually'?

- So... So, OK.

- A bit easier for me to do my analysis.

Right, OK, good!

Fantastic. Thanks very much.

So, I'd better just note down

where this comes from, I think.

Oh, I'll put it on this one.

Great, thanks.

Yeah, would we...

Would it be worth it?

I think that's a real...

Actually, we made a reservation

for dinner for six pm. And we're...

It could work out.

It could work out perfectly.

Hello!

Is it possible to buy the tickets?

All advance sales

are completely sold out.

The only way to get in...

- I think that's OK.

- That's OK?

- Yeah, don't worry.

- OK.

The main challenge that we're

dealing with is that our income,

and what's available to us to spend,

is 3.2 million less next year

than it was this year.

So it's a... it's a significant reduction

in what we have got available

to us to spend.

Now, of course, some of the income we had

this year was exceptional, from Leonardo,

and our costs will go down

as well next year,

so we're spending less on exhibitions

than we were this year.

We're also spending less

on our capital programme next year,

so we're one and a half million down,

because we're spending a million less

on the capital,

and we're spending half a million less

on exhibitions.

Also, this year, we've been able

to afford the compensation payments

to a range of staff who have left,

which was in the region of 700,000.

So all of those costs

won't appear again next year.

But that still leaves us

about a million short.

And the way that we have managed

to break even for next year

is because of the savings

we've made in staff costs.

So that has enabled us to present

a balanced budget.

So the work that we've done this year,

in changes to invigilation arrangements

and in the posts that have been reduced,

has enabled us to balance this budget.

And there's a little bit more detail

about that

later on in the paper,

which I'll come lo.

One of the big risks that we face

over the coming years

is the likelihood of further cuts,

which, although I'm hopeful

that won't be the case during 2012-13,

it's not impossible that there will be

another spending review in 2012-13,

which will reduce our grant in aid

still further

in the following two years,

which can be by as much

as five per cent each year.

And that's just what

they've told us about, so...

- Yeah.

- And things have worsened considerably

since the spending review 18 months ago.

Are we being too cautious

on that front?

It's so... you know, only at 1.7 million

of new income,

when, you know, last couple of years,

they've gone way over that,

and way over our budget figures.

Are we... are we being too careful

with that figure?

It's best to be cautious, because

there are things that we don't know about.

For example, I've only budgeted in here

for one per cent increase in staff costs,

on the basis of the autumn statement.

Now, we don't know what

the payrolls will actually be.

And, in recent years, they've actually been...

provided flexibility

that puts us under pressure

to actually pay more, so there are...

And then there are uncertainties

over energy costs,

which can be very volatile,

and there's the possibility of further cuts.

So I would prefer to budget cautiously

and know that we may well

come in in a better position,

which will provide us with the opportunity

to cover such eventualities if we need to.

Last year, this current year,

we've budgeted for 2.8 million.

And as of December, you were 4.9 million,

not including 1.1 of campaign income.

So you were at six altogether.

Now we're budgeting for 1.7 million.

No one's gonna really

look that closely at this,

but, I mean, it looks like we're spending

53p for every pound we raise.

And what we have in our budget,

is our budget really realistic, then?

It's cautious, but is it realistic,

when we're raising twice

what we put in here, historically?

This is reflecting what we would expect

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