Scotland’s National Galleries, which house some of the country’s greatest works of art, need to do far more to make themselves accessible and inclusive, their outgoing director general has said. Sir John Leighton, who is retiring in February after 17 years as head of the National Galleries in Scotland (NGS), said the organisation “still has a long way to go” to broaden the audience beyond Edinburgh’s middle classes and tourists. The two neoclassical and colonnaded buildings on the Mound that make up the suite of galleries where works by Titian, Sir Henry Raeburn, Botticelli and Leonardo da Vinci are displayed, look like “Greek temples”, said Leighton. “There were conceived as treasure chests and the architecture is an expression of cultural ambition, but expressed in a way that feels quite imposing,” he said. “We know from the work that we do with communities across the city, across the country, that you could talk about people who don’t go to art. But we [also] work with communities who don’t even go into the city. Edinburgh city centre …

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