News story: Wallace Collection Trustees Reappointed by Prime Minister

DR ASHOK ROY

Dr Ashok Roy, FSA is a scientist and a leading analytical specialist in the material history of works of art, particularly Old Master paintings. His career has been in museum science from 1977 when he was appointed to the National Gallery’s Scientific Department, of which he became Director in 1990. He was later appointed Director of Collections at the National Gallery from where he retired in 2016. He remains particularly interested in developing interdisciplinary study of works of art with curators and conservators with a view of presenting to a broad public the interest and value of understanding and preserving collections through material knowledge. To this end he has organised a number of exhibitions devoted to these subjects and published and lectured extensively in Britain and abroad. He is committed to promoting the widest variety of free public access to the national collections, and ensuring that the results of research on collections are made available to visitors both physical and virtual. He believes that presenting the materials and making of works of art provides a powerful way of engaging new publics particularly younger visitors. He is also interested in the importance of sustainability of museums as public institutions.

TIMOTHY SCHRODER

Timothy Schroder is a historian and lecturer on the history of silver and goldsmiths’ work. Previous roles include head of silver at Christie’s, Curator of Decorative Arts at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Consultant Curator at the V&A. In addition to being a trustee of the Wallace Collection, he is a past Prime Warden of the Goldsmiths’ Company, a member of the Fabric Commission of Westminster Abbey and chairman of the Prostate Cancer Research Centre. His current area of research is the goldsmiths’ work of Henry VIII, which he will publish in 2020 to mark the 500th anniversary of the Field of Cloth of Gold, the celebrated meeting of Henry VIII and Francis I of France in 1520.

KATE DE ROTHSCHILD

Kate de Rothschild Agius will continue to use her extensive knowledge of the art world and fund raising when she is re-appointed as a Trustee of the Wallace Collection. During the past five years she has been a constant advocate and ambassador for the museum and has raised money for them from many different sources. Kate was formerly Chairman of the Patrons of the British Museum and is now Chairman of the Patrons of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. These roles mean that she is very aware of the skills needed to approach and successfully interact with people when raising money. She is on the board of Exbury Gardens, the Rothschild family garden, now in a charitable trust, in Hampshire which is open to the public (with 80,000 visitors a year) and is involved in all aspects of running this visitor attraction. Kate has spent many years in the art world and has a particular interest in the art on display at the Wallace. She can talk knowledgeably about it to the visitors and hopefully inspire them to share her enthusiasm for the collection.

The role is not remunerated and these appointments have been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments. The appointments process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. Under the Code, any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years must be declared. This is defined as including holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation, or candidature for election. Dr Ashok Roy, Kate de Rothschild-Agius and Tim Schroder have declared no such political activity.