Sir Charles John Holmes, KCVO (1868 - 1936) was a British painter, art critic and museum director. His writing on art combined theory with practice and he was an expert on the painting techniques of the Old Masters, from whose example he had learned to draw and paint. From 1889 to 1903 Holmes worked as a publisher's and printer's assistant in London, and his experience in the field of publishing contributed to the early success of The Burlington Magazine (founded 1903), which he co-edited with Robert Dell until 1909. From 1904 to 1910 he was Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford University. His stature as a landscape painter was acknowledged when he was admitted into the New English Art Club in 1904, on the same day as John Singer Sargent. Holmes was appointed the director of the National Portrait Gallery in 1909. In 1916 he was elected director of the National Gallery, although a change in the constitution of the Gallery meant that Holmes was not given the absolute authority in the choice of purchases that his predecessors had enjoyed. Holmes instead made it his priority to familiarise the general public with the contents of the Gallery, using his experience as a critic and in publishing to this end. He received a knighthood in 1921, the year of his retirement from the National Gallery.
External links
| Preceded by Sir Lionel Cust |
Director of the National Portrait Gallery 1909–1916 |
Succeeded by James Milner |
| Preceded by Sir Charles Holroyd |
Director of the National Gallery 1916–1921 |
Succeeded by Sir Augustus Daniel |
