Matthew Winterbottom

Matthew Winterbottom was appointed Curator of Nineteenth-Century Decorative Arts in the Department of Western Art at the Ashmolean Museum in March 2014. This new post was created to develop a collection of decorative arts in order to complement the Ashmolean’s superb collection of Nineteenth-Century paintings, works on paper and sculpture. Matthew led the redevelopment and redisplay of the Museum’s Nineteenth-Century Art Galleries that opened in May 2016. These galleries show for the first time decorative arts together with paintings and sculpture. Matthew started his career in the Victoria & Albert Museum in the Metalwork then Furniture & Woodwork Departments. He then spent seven years as Curator or Decorative Arts at the Royal Collection before moving to the Holburne Museum in Bath. There he led the redevelopment of the decorative art galleries as part of the Museum’s extension and major refurbishment. In 2017, Matthew was appointed Curator of Decorative Arts and Sculpture and is responsible for the Department of Western Art’s extensive collections spanning the 15th to 21st centuries.