Timothy Aidan John Knox, (born 9 August 1962) is a British art historian and museum director. Since March 2018, he has been Director of the Royal Collection, the private art collection of the British Royal Family. The Royal Collection, held in trust by The King for his successors and the nation, comprises almost all aspects of the fine and decorative arts, runs to more than a million objects and is spread among some 15 royal residences and former residences across the UK. From 2013 to 2018, he was the Director of the

Fitzwilliam Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Vis ...

at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

Biography

He was educated at

Ratcliffe College Ratcliffe College is a coeducational Catholic independent boarding and day school near the village of Ratcliffe on the Wreake, Leicestershire, approximately from Leicester, England. The college, situated in of parkland on the Fosse Way about ...

, Leicestershire, and took a BA at the

Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist coll ...

. In 1989 he was appointed Assistant

Curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

at the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three supp ...

Drawings Collection. In 1995 he joined the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

as its Architectural Historian and in 2002 became that organisation's Head Curator. Among the projects with which he was involved were the restoration of the gardens of Stowe House, the acquisition of

Tyntesfield Tyntesfield is a Victorian Gothic Revival house and estate near Wraxall, North Somerset, England. The house is a Grade I listed building named after the Tynte baronets, who had owned estates in the area since about 1500. The location was form ...

and of the

Workhouse In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse' ...

in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, and the restoration of the

Darnley Mausoleum The Darnley Mausoleum, or Cobham Mausoleum as it is often now referred to, is a Grade I Listed building, now owned by the National Trust and situated in Cobham Woods, Kent ( OS grid ref: TQ694684). It was designed by James Wyatt for the 4th E ...

Cobham Park Cobham Park is a set of about 22 apartments in and around a converted country mansion and associated lawn, gardens, fields and woodlands in the mainly rural south of the parish of Cobham, Surrey in England. Its old extent takes in the majority o ...

, Kent. From 2005 to 2013, he was Director of

Sir John Soane's Museum Sir John Soane's Museum is a house museum, located next to Lincoln's Inn Fields in Holborn, London, which was formerly the home of neo-classical architect, John Soane. It holds many drawings and architectural models of Soane's projects, and ...

in London, where he oversaw a restoration project of Nos. 12 and 14

Lincoln's Inn Fields Lincoln's Inn Fields is the largest public square in London. It was laid out in the 1630s under the initiative of the speculative builder and contractor William Newton, "the first in a long series of entrepreneurs who took a hand in develo ...

, the two houses flanking the original house-museum created by the

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

architect Sir

John Soane Sir John Soane (; né Soan; 10 September 1753 – 20 January 1837) was an English architect who specialised in the Neo-Classical style. The son of a bricklayer, he rose to the top of his profession, becoming professor of architecture at the R ...

. Since 2009 he has been a member of the editorial board of the

Georgian Group The Georgian Group is a British charity, and the national authority on Georgian architecture built between 1700 and 1837 in England and Wales. As one of the National Amenity Societies, The Georgian Group is a statutory consultee on alterat ...

. He has been Vice-Patron of the

Public Monuments and Sculpture Association The Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA) was an organisation established in 1991 to bring together individuals and organisations with an interest in British public sculptures and monuments, their production, preservation and history ...

since 2012. From 2013 to 2018, he was the Director of the

at the

and a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of t ...

. In January 2018, it was announced that he would be the next Director of the Royal Collection: he took up the position in March 2018 thereby joining the staff of the Royal Household.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knox, Tim Living people 1962 births People educated at Ratcliffe College Alumni of the Courtauld Institute of Art British art historians Directors of museums in the United Kingdom Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Fellows of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge