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Nicholas Penny (born December 21, 1949) is a British art historian. Since Spring 2008 he has been director of the National Gallery
National Gallery, London

The National Gallery in London, founded in 1824, houses a rich collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900 in its home on Trafalgar Square....
 in London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
.

Penny was educated at Shrewsbury School
Shrewsbury School

Shrewsbury School is a Independent School located in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, Shropshire, England. It is one of the original nine English public schools as defined by the Public Schools Act 1868, and is now a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference....
 and St Catharine's College, Cambridge
St Catharine's College, Cambridge

St Catharine?s College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. It is often referred to informally by its nickname ?Catz?....
, and took his postgraduate studies at the Courtauld Institute of Art
Courtauld Institute of Art

The Courtauld Institute of Art is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art. The Courtauld is one of the premier centres for the teaching of art history in the world; it was the only History of Art department in the UK to be awarded a top 5* grade in the most recent Research Assessm...
 in London. His academic career began with a research fellowship at Clare Hall, Cambridge
Clare Hall, Cambridge

Clare Hall is a College for Advanced Study in the University of Cambridge.Informality is a defining value at Clare Hall and this contributes to its unique character....
, after which he went on to teach art history
Art history

Art history has historically been understood as the academic study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts, i.e.genre, design, format, and look.This includes the "major" arts of painting, sculpture, and architecture as well as the "minor" arts of ceramics, furniture, and other decorative objects....
 at Manchester University. While still in his early thirties, Penny was appointed the Slade Professorship
Slade Professor of Fine Art

The Slade Professorship of Fine Art is the senior professorship of art at the universities of University of Cambridge, University of Oxford and University of London....
 at Oxford University and a Senior Research Fellowship at King's College, Cambridge
King's College, Cambridge

King's College, Cambridge is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and St. Nicholas in Cambridge, it is referred to as King's within the university....
.






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Nicholas Penny (born December 21, 1949) is a British art historian. Since Spring 2008 he has been director of the National Gallery
National Gallery, London

The National Gallery in London, founded in 1824, houses a rich collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900 in its home on Trafalgar Square....
 in London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
.

Penny was educated at Shrewsbury School
Shrewsbury School

Shrewsbury School is a Independent School located in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, Shropshire, England. It is one of the original nine English public schools as defined by the Public Schools Act 1868, and is now a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference....
 and St Catharine's College, Cambridge
St Catharine's College, Cambridge

St Catharine?s College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. It is often referred to informally by its nickname ?Catz?....
, and took his postgraduate studies at the Courtauld Institute of Art
Courtauld Institute of Art

The Courtauld Institute of Art is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art. The Courtauld is one of the premier centres for the teaching of art history in the world; it was the only History of Art department in the UK to be awarded a top 5* grade in the most recent Research Assessm...
 in London. His academic career began with a research fellowship at Clare Hall, Cambridge
Clare Hall, Cambridge

Clare Hall is a College for Advanced Study in the University of Cambridge.Informality is a defining value at Clare Hall and this contributes to its unique character....
, after which he went on to teach art history
Art history

Art history has historically been understood as the academic study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts, i.e.genre, design, format, and look.This includes the "major" arts of painting, sculpture, and architecture as well as the "minor" arts of ceramics, furniture, and other decorative objects....
 at Manchester University. While still in his early thirties, Penny was appointed the Slade Professorship
Slade Professor of Fine Art

The Slade Professorship of Fine Art is the senior professorship of art at the universities of University of Cambridge, University of Oxford and University of London....
 at Oxford University and a Senior Research Fellowship at King's College, Cambridge
King's College, Cambridge

King's College, Cambridge is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and St. Nicholas in Cambridge, it is referred to as King's within the university....
. He was the co-author, with Francis Haskell
Francis Haskell

Francis Haskell was an England art historian, whose writings placed emphasis on the social history of art.He read history at King's College, Cambridge and became a Fellow there in 1954....
, of Taste and the Antique, a study of the formation of the canon of classical sculpture
Classical sculpture

Classical sculpture refers to the forms of sculpture from Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome and the Hellenized, and Romanized civilizations under their rule or influence from about 500B.C....
 published in 1984.

Between 1984 and 1989 Penny was keeper of the department of Western art at the Ashmolean Museum
Ashmolean Museum

The Ashmolean Museum on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is the world's first university museum. Its first building is sometimes attributed to Christopher Wren, though there is no good evidence for this claim, and was built in 1678?1683 to house the collection or cabinet of curiosities Elias Ashmole gave Oxford University in 1677....
, Oxford
Oxford

Oxford is a City status in the United Kingdom, and the county town of Oxfordshire, in South East England. It has a population of 151,000. The rivers River Cherwell and River Thames run through Oxford and meet south of the city centre....
 and Professorial Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College, Oxford

Balliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford of the University of Oxford in England.Balliol is Oxford's most popular college, measured in terms of the number of applications for entry from prospective students....
. In 1990 he began a long association with the National Gallery, London
National Gallery, London

The National Gallery in London, founded in 1824, houses a rich collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900 in its home on Trafalgar Square....
, joining the institution as Clore Curator of Renaissance Painting. Shortly afterwards, in 1991, he identified the Madonna of the Pinks
Madonna of the Pinks

The Madonna of the Pinks is an early devotional painting by the Italian Renaissance master Raphael. It is painted in oil painting on fruitwood and now hangs in the National Gallery, London, London....
 belonging to the Duke of Northumberland
Ralph Percy, 12th Duke of Northumberland

Ralph George Algernon Percy, 12th Duke of Northumberland Deputy Lieutenant , is a British peer.He was born the son of Hugh Percy, 10th Duke of Northumberland and Lady Elizabeth Montagu-Douglas-Scott....
 as a genuine Raphael
Raphael

Raphael Sanzio, usually known by his first name alone was an Italy Painting and architect of the High Renaissance, celebrated for the perfection and grace of his paintings and drawings....
, and not a copy of a lost original as was previously supposed. The painting came to public prominence in 2002 when the Gallery fought a major fundraising campaign in order to prevent the painting's sale to the Getty Center
Getty Center

The Getty Center in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California, USA, is one of two locations of the J. Paul Getty Museum. The museum's permanent collection includes "pre-20th-century European paintings, drawings, illuminated manuscripts, sculpture, and decorative arts; and 19th- and 20th-century American and European photographs"....
 in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles

Los ?ngeles is the Capital of the Biob?o Province, in the municipality of the same name, in Regions of Chile VIII , in the center-south of Chile....
. Earlier that year Penny made an unsuccessful bid for the directorship of the National Gallery, the post going to Charles Saumarez Smith
Charles Saumarez Smith

Charles Robert Saumarez Smith Order of the British Empire is a United Kingdom History of art. He was Director of the National Portrait Gallery from 1994....
. Again in 2002, Penny was appointed Senior Curator of Sculpture at the National Gallery of Art
National Gallery of Art

The National Gallery of Art is a national art museum, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The museum was established in 1938 by the United States Congress, with funds for construction and a substantial art collection donated by Andrew W....
 in Washington, DC. Following Saumarez Smith's early resignation from his post, Penny was once again a candidate for heading the London National Gallery, and this time he succeeded.

Penny is a regular contributor to The Burlington Magazine
The Burlington Magazine

The Burlington Magazine is a monthly magazine that covers the fine arts and decorative arts. Founded in 1903, published in London, it is arguably the most important and prestigious journal of art history published in English....
 and the London Review of Books
London Review of Books

The London Review of Books is a fortnightly United Kingdom literary and political magazine.The LRB was founded in 1979 during the year-long lock-out at The Times....
.