National Gallery demolition workers find funder’s secret critical note

A note written by John Sainsbury in 1990 and hidden in concrete has been found by builders knocking down a pillar in a wing of the National Gallery.

The typed and signed letter left by the former chairman of the Sainsbury’s supermarket chain was found buried deep in a false column in the foyer of the Sainsbury Wing, which Mr Sainsbury funded along with his brothers John and Timothy.

The letter was slipped into the concrete of the pillar by Mr Sainsbury, who died in 2022 aged 94, in anticipation of it one day being knocked down.

In it, he thanks the builders for demolishing the two “unnecessary columns” built into the wing, which was opened in 1991.

The letter, which was typed on Sainsbury’s supermarket notepaper and sealed in a plastic folder, was addressed “To those who find this note” and read: “If you have found this note you must be engaged in demolishing one of the false columns that have been placed in the foyer of the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery.

“I believe that the false columns are a mistake of the architect and that we would live to regret our accepting this detail of his design.

“Let it be known that one of the donors of this building is absolutely delighted that your generation has decided to dispense with the unnecessary columns.”

The letter was found during the demolition last year and has now been deposited in the gallery’s archive as an historic document, according to The Art Newspaper.

Read more:
Museum seeks five-year-old who smashed priceless ancient pot
War hero becomes Britain’s oldest skydiver

Mr Sainsbury’s widow Anya, who was at the site when her husband’s note was removed, told the newspaper: “I was so happy for John’s letter to be rediscovered after all these years, and I feel he would be relieved and delighted for the gallery’s new plans and the extra space they are creating.”

The demolition of the pillars is part of a £85m project, of which the Sainsbury family is the largest donor, to upgrade the wing and develop new facilities in the adjacent part of its main building.

Neil MacGregor, who was the director of the National Gallery when the Sainsbury Wing was built, told The Art Newspaper Mr Sainsbury had been critical of the pillars at the time of their construction.

“John Sainsbury argued that sightlines should be as unencumbered as possible, thinking the extra columns would conceal the entrance to the lecture theatre and temporary exhibition galleries, confusing the visitor,” he said.

But Mr MacGregor decided to go with the architect Robert Venturi’s design, who he said “had a coherent idea of the organic link between entrance hall, staircase and main galleries”.

The National Gallery stated in its planning documents for the latest work that the pillars restricted views to the lifts and obscured the entrance to the lecture theatre and temporary exhibition spaces.