New Head of Research Resources & Publications Appointed

Kate Retford has been appointed to the new position of Head of Research Resources & Publications. In this role she will head up the Archives, Library and Publications teams and be part of the Senior Leadership Team.

Kate is a distinguished historian of British Art and has built an international reputation over twenty-five years of research, teaching and leadership in the field. She is currently professor of history of art at Birkbeck, University of London and brings a wealth of experience across academia, publishing and curatorial collaboration.

Kate has published extensively on eighteenth-century British art, particularly portraiture and its relationships with gender, sexuality and social status. Her research, however, has most recently focused on the country house from the eighteenth century to current issues of interpretation and presentation. Her publications include two monographs, The Art of Domestic Life: Family Portraiture in Eighteenth-Century England (2006) and The Conversation Piece: Making Modern Art in Eighteenth-Century Britain (2017), both published by the Paul Mellon Centre (PMC). She is currently working on a new book about print rooms in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century country houses. This scholarship has been funded by the British Academy, AHRC, PMC and the Leverhulme Trust.

Sarah Victoria Turner, Director of PMC, comments:

“Kate’s expertise as a subject specialist in British art, combined with her experience as a senior manager in the Higher Education sector, will be a huge asset to the PMC. Kate brings with her a dedication to our mission to provide support and resources for the study of British art and fantastic ideas about the future of the field. She already knows our work very well and I am really delighted to welcome her as a member of the team.”

Kate will begin this role part-time from May 2025 and full-time from mid-July 2025.