Neil MacGregor

Robert Neil MacGregor (born 1946) is an art historian and museum director.

He was editor of the Burlington Magazine from 1981 until 1987, when he became a highly successful director of the National Gallery in London. He was the first director of the National Gallery to decline a knighthood and is a devout Christian; he has therefore been given the nickname "Saint Neil".

MacGregor presented two BBC TV series on art: Making Masterpieces, a behind-the-scenes tour of the National Gallery, in 1997 and Seeing Salvation, on the representation of Jesus in western art, in 2000.

After reversing the fortunes of the National Gallery, he was made director of the British Museum in 2002, at the time in a financial crisis.

See also: Neil MacGregor, 1946, 1981, 1987, 1997, 2000, 2002, Art historian, BBC, British Museum