Surveyor of the Queen's Works of Art

Not to be confused with Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures.

The office of Surveyor of the King's/Queen's Works of Art in the Royal Collection Department of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom is responsible for the care and maintenance of the royal collection of works of art owned by the Sovereign in an official capacity – as distinct from those owned privately and displayed at Sandringham House and Balmoral Castle and elsewhere.

The office dates from 1928, and has only been full-time since 1972. Sir Lionel Cust, Surveyor of the King's Pictures, had been responsible for works of art from 1901 to 1927.

The current Surveyor, Jonathan Marsden, CVO, was appointed upon the retirement of Sir Hugh Roberts on 20 April 2010. He is also concurrently Director of the Royal Collection for which he chairs a management committee of professional curators and administrators, including Desmond Shawe-Taylor, Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures.

List of Surveyors of the King's/Queen's Works of Art

• Rufus Bird 2017-
• Sir Jonathan Marsden KCVO 2010–2017
• Sir Hugh Roberts GCVO FSA 1996–2010
• Sir Geoffrey de Bellaigue GCVO FBA FSA 1972–1996
• Sir Francis J.B. Watson KCVO FSA FBA 1963–1972
• Sir James Mann KCVO FSA FBA 1946–1962
• Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Gerald Wellesley 1936–1943
• Sir Cecil Harcourt-Smith KCVO 1928–1936
• Sir Lionel Cust 1901–1927 (also Pictures)

External links

• Carter, Miranda (2002-02-11). "They're changing art at Buckingham Palace". London: Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-05-24. It has gone from being run by one man and a dog – well, two part-time, unpaid surveyors of paintings and "works of art" – to being a self-financing charitable trust. It has a staff of 30 curators and restorers, including three surveyors, of whom Hugh Roberts, surveyor of the Queen's works of art, is also overall director, and has an obligation to open the collection to the public. A far cry from the early Fifties when the Queen's first surveyor of pictures, Anthony Blunt (apparently rather a good surveyor, apart, of course, from being a former Soviet spy) ...