Biography
Dr Jacqueline Riding specialises in British art and history of the long eighteenth century, with a current academic focus on William Hogarth, late-Stuart/early-Georgian painting, and Jacobitism. Former curator of the Palace of Westminster and Director of the Handel House Museum, she is now an author and consultant for museums, galleries, historic buildings and feature films.
Her recent projects include: consultant historian & curatorial adviser for HLF-funded John Wilton Room at Wilton’s Music Hall, London; curator of Basic Instincts, an exhibition on the eighteenth-century painter Joseph Highmore at the Foundling Museum, London in 2017-2018 (with accompanying book published by Paul Holberton, see Publications); scriptwriter & historical adviser for Martin Ware’s Hogarth & The Art of Noise exhibition and soundscape at the Foundling Museum in 2019, focussed on Hogarth’s The March of the Guards to Finchley (1749-1750); art historical & historical adviser on Mike Leigh's Mr. Turner (2014), Peterloo (2018), Wash Westmoreland's Colette (2018), William McGregor’s Gwen (2019) and Daniel Graham’s Prizefighter (pre-production 2021); award-winning author of Jacobites: A New History of the ’45 Rebellion (Bloomsbury 2016), Peterloo: The Story of the Manchester Massacre (Head of Zeus 2018) and Hogarth: Life in Progress (Profile 2021), the first biography of William Hogarth for over twenty years and one of Waterstones’ The Best Books to Look Out for in 2021.
Jacqueline is a fellow of the Graduate School of Business, University of Stanford; the Clore Leadership Programme; the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland; the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, and trustee of Turner’s House, Twickenham and the Jacobite Studies Trust.
External Activity
Selection
Film projects
• 2015-2018 Thin Man Films: historian, Mike Leigh’s Peterloo (2018)
• 2016 Endor Films: historical consultant, William McGregor’s Gwen (2019)
• 2016 Number9 Films: historical consultant, Wash Westmoreland’s Colette (2018)
• 2015 Camelot Films: historical consultant, Matt Hooking’s Prizefighter (tbc)
• 2011-2014 Thin Man Films: historian and art historian, Mike Leigh’s Mr. Turner (2014)
Museums, Art Galleries and Historic Buildings
• 2018- The Foundling Museum, London: exhibition curator, Hogarth and the Jacobites (Jan-Apr 2021)
• 2019 The Foundling Museum: historical adviser & script writer for Martin Ware’s Hogarth & the Art of Noise soundscape (May – September 2019)
• 2018 B+A Consultants/Argent: interpretation historian, Coal Drops Yard, King’s Cross
• 2016-2018 The Foundling Museum, London: exhibition curator, Basic Instincts (Sept 2017-Jan 2018)
• 2016 Turner’s House Trust: consultant for the restoration & interpretation of JMW Turner’s villa
• 2015-2016 Wilton’s Music Hall: consultant historian & curatorial adviser (John Wilton History Room)
• 2014-2015 Petworth House, National Trust for England: co-curator, Mr. Turner exhibition and book
• 2013 Historic Royal Palaces: interpretation & content consultant, Secrets of the Royal Bedchamber exhibition, Hampton Court Palace
• 2010-2011 Tate: consultant on Art and the Sublime AHRC project, producer of short films ‘Art and Landscape’ (JMW Turner, James Ward, John Constable) and ‘Contemporary Artist Responses’ (Bill Viola)
Learning
• 2018- Jacobite Studies, The Jacobite Studies Trust and Manchester University Press: senior editor
• 2018- Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art: tutor and lecturer, including convenor of the
Autumn 2019 Public Lecture Programme Art and War
• 2018- Oxford University Department for Continuing Education: summer school tutor OUDCE/Berkeley The
Royal Academy of Arts (2018) and The Age of Hogarth (2019), and The Oxford Experience Rebels, Radicals
& Reformers: British art and history 1707–1837 (2019)
• 2009-2010 The Attingham Trust: co-director, London House Study Programme
