Gabriele Finaldi has been appointed the new head of the National Gallery, replacing Nicholas Penny who announced his retirement last year.
The 49-year-old is currently deputy director for collections and research at the Prado museum in Madrid.
Finaldi was a curator at the National from 1992 to 2002, where he was responsible for the later paintings in the Italian and Spanish collections.
He said he was "deeply honored" to take on the directorship.
