Minutes of meetings of the Council, including the following selected entries: the views of the Royal Academy’s financial advisors, who reported that overheads heavily exceeded income from investments and exhibitions, that there was a current bank overdraft of nearly £500,000 and that the sale of possessions was therefore recommended, and consideration of the possibility of the sale of the
Michelangelo tondo [‘The Madonna and Child with the Infant St John’] versus the sale of a number of minor treasures, including the report of the Secretary,
Sidney Hutchison, who stated that the list of the latter which were proposed for sale, excluding those which might be considered emotive, amounted to some four hundred items with a value of approximately £700,000, the recommendation of the Treasurer,
Roger de Grey, for the immediate sale of the topographical and architectural perspective watercolours by
Francis Wheatley,
Michael Angelo Rooker and others (bequeathed by Mrs Thackeray, the daughter of
John Yenn in 1865), for a figure in the region of £100,000 and the note that the majority of opinions, including that of the Secretary, were in favour of the immediate sale of the tondo, rather than the piecemeal erosion of possessions of historical value to the Royal Academy, 15 November 1977; report of a meeting between the President,
Sir Hugh Casson, and
Lord Goodman, who was not in favour of the sale of the Michelangelo tondo or any other treasures at that time, 6 December 1977; report of a meeting between the President, Sir Hugh Casson, and
Kenneth Robinson, Chairman of the Arts Council, 31 January 1978; report of the Treasurer, Roger de Grey, that he had not been successful in obtaining a lower rate of interest on the bank overdraft, 31 January - 21 February 1978; and report of a scheme to hold lotteries at the Royal Academy for three years from the date of registration, 21 April 1978.