Ronald Parkison (1945-2012)
“After a brief period as a research assistant at the Paul Mellon Foundation of British Art, Parkinson joined the V&A in 1972 and, but for a four-year stint as an assistant keeper at the Tate Gallery’s British collection in the mid-1970s, spent the rest of his career there. He returned from the Tate in 1978 to be the V&A’s deputy head of education … Longing to get back to research, he reverted in 1987 to the museum’s prints and drawings department as it was then … His speciality remained British painting, and he compiled the V&A’s Catalogue of British Oil Paintings (1820-1860) published in 1990. In 1998 came his seminal Constable, The Man and his Art, based on his intimate knowledge of the unrivalled Constable collection in the museum, which was so concise and easily accessible that tour guides took to carrying a copy.” (obituary in The Times, 13 December 2012)
