Brett Dolman
Position: Curator of Collections
About
Brett is a curator and historian, specialising in the creation, purpose, and reception of western European art from the 16th to early 18th centuries. As Curator of Collections based at Hampton Court, he is responsible for the management, research, display, and interpretation of fine art, including paintings and tapestries. He works alongside colleagues at the Royal Collection Trust and has a research interest in the display of Royal Collection paintings at Hampton Court from the 16th century to the present.
At HRP since 2003, Brett has curated exhibitions and displays on Tudor and Stuart history, Shakespeare and court drama, court portraiture and the Royal Collection. At Hampton Court, he is the curator of the Cumberland Art Gallery and the Mantegna Gallery. He has published on portraiture, Tudor history painting, Baroque murals, the Royal Collection and the Raphael Cartoons. Brett is co-convenor of the British Murals Network, a gathering of academics, professionals and conservators interested in the history of interior decorative art of the 17th and 18th centuries.
Select publications
Dolman, B., Beauty, Sex and Power (London: Scala & Historic Royal Palaces, 2012).
Dolman, B., Drama and Debate at the Stuart Court (London: Historic Royal Palaces, 2004).
Dolman, B., ‘Palaces, Progresses, Panache and Pictures’, in Royal Journeys in Early Modern Europe, ed. by A. Musson and J. P. D. Cooper (Abingdon & New York: Routledge, 2023), pp. 170-93.