The Secretary of State has appointed Pippa Shirley as a Member of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art (RCEWA) for a term of four years commencing on 15 October 2018.
Pippa Shirley read History at Oxford before an MA in Art History at the Courtauld Institute, London. She worked in publishing as a Commissioning Editor for the Grove Dictionary of Art, then went to the British Museum as a curator in the then Department of Medieval and Later Antiquities.
In 1992 she moved to the V&A as a curator in the Metalwork, Silver and Jewellery Department, specialising in decorative ironwork and English and continental silver, working on three major gallery projects to redisplay the National Collections of ironwork and silver.
In 2000 she came to Waddesdon Manor as Head of Collections, where she leads the curatorial team responsible for the contents of one of the most important National Trust properties in the country, home to a spectacular ensemble of continental decorative arts and English, French and Netherlandish paintings created by four generations of the Rothschild family. In 2015 oversight of the Gardens was added to her role. The Manor is managed today by a charitable trust, The Rothschild Foundation, under the direction of Lord Rothschild. She has published and lectured on a range of subjects. She also represents Waddesdon across different media channels for both press and marketing and in her curatorial role.
This appointment has 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. Pippa have declared no such political activity.
