At first glance, the life of an art historian, often depressed in the latter decades of her life, might not yield a compelling book. But Colin Holden’s perusal of Ursula Hoff’s previously unknown diaries has produced a passionate and valuable portrayal of a scholar wrestling with the challenge of buying works of art for the National Gallery of Victoria, in London. The biography is based on Hoff’s diaries, still owned by her estate, and not yet in the public domain.

It is said that Hoff (1909–2005) kept diaries all her life, but this book is based on the one from 1939, when she emigrated from Europe to Australia, and on those from her later years, following her retirement from the Department of Prints and Drawings at the National Gallery, when she became Felton Adviser, living and buying works in London.