The Battle for Better Design: The History of the Royal Fine Art Commission

Prince Albert was the first Chairman of the first Royal Fine Art Commission, appointed by Queen Victoria to commission art for the new Houses of Parliament. At the age of just twenty-two, he deftly navigated the complex project, leaving a remarkable artistic legacy and honing the skills that made him one of the Renaissance Men of the nineteenth century. Albert then set the template for a second Royal Fine Art Commission, created in 1924 as a priority of Britain’s first ever Labour Government. From the aftermath of the Great War to the eve of the Third Millennium, this Commission gave elite architects and designers from Edwin Lutyens to Henry Moore a platform to apply their minds to a democratic cause, putting in countless hours analysing the design of buildings, street furniture, roads and bridges. The story of the two Commissions, told together for the first time, is a compelling one of civic duty performed freely in the public interest, against the background of high politics, difficult personalities and the physical disruption wrought by wars, the motorcar and advances in technology. This volume pays tribute to the remarkable people who made it possible.

Robert Bargery is Executive Director of the Royal Fine Art Commission Trust and a project consultant in the heritage sector. He was principal researcher at the Royal Fine Art Commission from 1995-1999 before serving as Head of Policy and Research at its successor body, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment. From 2002 to 2016 he was Chief Executive of the Georgian Group, the national charity for the preservation of buildings and landscapes of the long eighteenth century.