19 OCTOBER 1929, Page 3

Sir Lionel Cust We regret to record the death, at

the age of seventy, of Sir Lionel Cust, who retired last year from the position of Surveyor of the King's Pictures and Works of Art. Apprenticed to the British Museum, he was much bolder in attributing doubtful pictures to particular painters than one would have expected of a man with his training. His championship of an attribution when he found himself in a minority of one was often entertainingly vigorous. That was the one defect of his enthusiasm. He was an indefatigable researcher, particularly in private collections, and an inspiring writer on the history of art. For fourteen years, ending in 1909, he was Director of the National Portrait Gallery, and for ten years afterwards Joint Editor of the Burlington Magazine.

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