Life
Born in 1918, Gould was the son of Rupert Gould, the restorer of John Harrison’s chronometers, and Muriel Estall. Gould was educated at Kingswood House preparatory school, near Epsom, and then at Westminster School. After leaving school he studied at the Courtauld Institute. During the Second World War he served as Pilot Officer Gould in R.A.F. Intelligence, first in Egypt from 1941 to 1943, and then in Normandy, France. After the war he joined the National Gallery staff in 1946, and worked there until his retirement in 1987. He was Keeper and Deputy Director for the last five years of his tenure. He was a prolific author, publishing many books and articles during his career.
In 1970, Gould established that the National Gallery’s portrait of Pope Julius II was the original by Raphael and not a copy, as had previously been thought. He was also responsible for a new attribution of a work by Michelangelo.
In his last years Gould lived with his sister Jocelyne Stacey in the village of Thorncombe, West Dorset. He developed a brain tumour and after a short illness, died on 7 April 1994. Gould never married and was survived by Jocelyne. A collection of Gould's large format black and white photographs of Islamic architecture in Cairo, taken during World War II, have been donated to the RIBA library.
Gould was portrayed during his childhood in the 2000 Channel 4 television drama about Harrison's chronometers, Longitude. He was played by child actor Joe Williams.
Read more about this topic: Cecil Gould
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