News story

Members appointed to the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art

The Secretary of State has appointed Professor Mark Hallett and Dr Tim Pestell as Members of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art (RCEWA) for a term of four years commencing on 13 August 2021 until 12 August 2025.

Professor Mark Hallett

Professor Mark Hallett is Director of the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. He oversees all aspects of the Centre’s activities, ensuring that it supports the most original and rigorous research into the history of British art and architecture.

Hallett’s scholarly research has focused on British art from the seventeenth century onwards. The many books he has written and edited include the prize-winning Reynolds: Portraiture in Action (2014). Hallett also co-edited the major online publication, The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition: A Chronicle, 1769–2018 (2018).

Professor Hallett has also been involved in curating numerous exhibitions. These have included the 2007 Tate Britain exhibition Hogarth, the 2015 Wallace Collection exhibition Joshua Reynolds: Experiments in Paint, and two 2018 exhibitions: the Royal Academy exhibition The Great Spectacle: 250 Years of the Summer Exhibition, and the Yale Center for British Art’s George Shaw: A Corner of a Foreign Field.

Hallett has been the recipient of a Leverhulme Research Fellowship and a Mellon Senior Fellowship. He has been Visiting Scholar at Pembroke College, Cambridge (2013–14) and a Visiting Professor at the Courtauld Institute of Art (2014–16).

Dr Tim Pestell

Dr Tim Pestell is the Senior Curator of Archaeology at Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery, part of Norfolk Museums Service. He studied Archaeology at Cambridge followed by a PhD at the University of East Anglia, looking at the foundation of medieval monasteries in East Anglia and then worked professionally in field archaeology across the UK before becoming a curator.

Pestell is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and has served as board member on various bodies including the Treasure Valuation Committee for ten years, Bury St Edmunds cathedral’s Diocesan Advisory Committee and various local and national archaeological society committees.

These appointments have been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments. Committee members are not remunerated. 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. Both Mark and Tim have declared no such political activity.

Published 14 July 2021