Numbering some 1,500 individual items and housed at over 80 historic properties across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the collection of portrait miniatures cared for by the National Trust is considered to be one of the most significant in the world.
Richard Walker was curator of the Government Art Collection, Curator of the Palace of Westminster and National Portrait Gallery cataloguer. His publications include the eighteenth and early nineteenth century volume of Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, the 1998 Catalogue of National Portrait Gallery Miniatures. Alastair has been the National Trust's adviser on Pictures and Sculpture since 1986.