The tooled gold inner panels of the small portable 14th-century Wilton Diptych flicker “like a lantern that has shone through six centuries” Courtesy National Gallery, London
At the end of the day on Wednesday 18 March, I gathered all the gallery assistants on the mosaic staircase to address them before they went to change out of their uniforms. We had to close the gallery because of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic and we weren’t sure for how long. I was grateful for their commitment and was very much looking forward to seeing them again soon. We all burst into spontaneous applause.