A SHORTLIST of contenders for country's top art job, director-general of the National Galleries Scotland, has been finalised, with retiring head Sir Timothy Clifford warning applicants that the condition of the toilets at the galleries is as important as the strength of the collection.

The new recruit will replace Clifford, who is due to retire in January at the age of 60 after 21 years in the post.

The Sunday Herald understands that London-based headhunting firm Saxton Bampfylde Hever, has now narrowed the 20 applications received in May from all over the world, down to a shortlist of around six.

It is expected that the National Galleries' board of trustees, headed by Brian Ivory, will interview those on the shortlist over the next few months, with an official announcement on Clifford's successor expected to be made only after the Scottish Executive endorses the board's proposed candidate.

Those touted for the job include favourites John Leighton, director of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and Michael Clarke, director of the National Gallery of Scotland. Gabriele Finaldi of the Prado in Madrid; Tate Britain's Stephen Deuchar; James Holloway, director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art's director Richard Calvocoressi are also thought to be in the running.

Victoria Goodsman of Saxton Bamfylde Hever, who was also involved in recruiting for the chair of the National Theatre of Scotland, confirmed that a shortlist was being finalised, but could not comment any further on the candidates due to the "sensitivity" of the subject.

Clifford, who came to the National Galleries from Manchester City Art Galleries in 1984, is renowned in world art circles and has been credited with turning the galleries into an international centre of excellence.

He secured for Scotland the Paolozzi bequest; Titian's Venus and Anadyomene, bought for pounds-11.6 million; Botticelli's The Virgin Adoring The Sleeping Christ Child, for pounds-10.25m; and Canova's Three Graces, for pounds-7.6m and jointly owned by the Victoria & Albert Museum and the National Galleries in London. He also masterminded the pounds-25m Playfair extension.

After his retirement, Clifford, a maverick who has often been seen to be at odds with the Executive, plans to create an institute in Italy for research into the applied arts.

Clifford said: "I understand the shortlist has been made, and before long the board will be interviewing. All I know is that they have a very good cross-section [of candidates] . . . I gather people have applied from Europe and America.

Let's hope that there will be somebody exhilarating." But Clifford added that he hoped the board of trustees would take the time to check out a lot more than the candidates' references.

He said: "I know that if I was on the interviewing panel, I'd be extremely keen not just on watching how people perform at interview and looking at their references, but I'd also want to go and see the institutions they run.

"If you have a shortlist of five or six people, it behoves the board, if they can, to inspect the places these people run to see that they are run efficiently.

"It's one thing to have people very articulate in front of you and to think that they publish elegant publications, but if you go to their galleries and find the lights are on the blink, or the staff are surly and insulting, or when you go to the lavatories, the taps are running . . . these are the things that separate the men from the boys."

aideen. mclaughlin@sundayherald. com