When I heard that next year’s National Gallery of Victoria Winter Masterpieces exhibition would be “Cartier” a little something inside me died. Announced this week, the exhibition promises more than 300 “resplendent and beautifully crafted jewels” including jewellery worn by actor Elizabeth Taylor, pop star Rihanna, Princess Margaret and our own Dame Nellie Melba. The NGV will host a Cartier exhibition for its 2026 Winter Masterpieces. There will be tiaras, necklaces, brooches and diamonds as big as gobstoppers. However, as glitteringly fabulous as all this is sure to be, I can’t help but feel that holding an exhibition of Cartier jewellery at the NGV is selling out our peak cultural institution.