Malcolm Rogers, National Gallery

[UPDATE: It is worth nothing that back in March, I posed this very same question to Malcolm Rogers.

Rogers: "The National Gallery was my dream job … until I came to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston! The MFA is going through one of the most exciting times in its history. Our Building Project, designed by the world-renowned architectural firm, Foster & Partners, will transform the MFA for visitors of today and future generations. I am honored to be at the MFA and this is where I want to be. I’m here for the long haul."]

Anthony Haden-Guest floated Museum of Fine Arts Director Malcolm Rogers as one of the potential candidates on the longlist to replace Charles Saumarez Smith at London's National Gallery.

The job does come with some challenges, Haden-Guest states:

"The National Gallery is facing its worst crisis in a century with an acquisition budget capped at £40m this year and with a hog-wild market sucking long-term loans, currently valued at £200m, right off the walls.

So, ideally, the new director should combine the art-historical scholarship of Kenneth Clark, the diplomacy of Talleyrand and the messianic self-belief of L Ron Hubbard. Indeed, at times like these, the museum world, like the art market generally, takes on a distinct resemblance to the arena of Premiership football."

Remember, Rogers left England to take over the MFA after being passed over for the top job at the National Portrait Gallery, where he had served for nine years as deputy director.