Julian Guy Yonge Radcliffe (born August 1948) is a British businessman, and the founder and chairman of the

Art Loss Register The Art Loss Register (ALR) is the world's largest database of stolen art. A computerized international database that captures information about lost and stolen art, antiques, and collectibles, the ALR is a London-based, independent, for-profit c ...

(ALR).

Early life

He was educated at Eton, and

New College, Oxford New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...

, and graduated with a degree in politics and economics.

Career

In 1970, Radcliffe joined Hogg Robinson, as a

Lloyd's of London Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is a insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gover ...

insurance broker. He claims that in 1975, he was one of the co-founders of

Control Risks Control Risks is a global risk and strategic consulting firm that specializes in political, security and integrity risk assessments. History Control Risks was formed in 1975, as a professional adviser to the insurance industry. A subsidiary of ...

, then a Hogg Robinson subsidiary, with Timothy Royle. However, he does not appear in any company literature regarding the founding process and was likely just an early minority shareholder. In 1990, he founded the

. ("ALR") Radcliffe is the majority shareholder in the

, with auction houses

Sotheby's Sotheby's ( ) is a British-founded multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine art, fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

(a/k/a Oatshare Ltd.) owning about 11%,

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...

about 3%. In 1991, The International Foundation for Art Research, based in New York City, NY (USA) helped create the Art Loss Register (ALR) as a commercial enterprise to expand and market the database. IFAR managed ALR's U.S. operations through 1997. In 1998 the ALR assumed full responsibility for the IFAR database although IFAR retains ownership While widely recognised for its contributions to art recovery, the ALR has faced occasional scrutiny over its negotiations with the holders of lost art. However, Shortland’s detailed analysis emphasises that these negotiations are legal, ethical, and necessary to ensure rightful restitution while preventing criminals from profiting. As of 2016, the Art Loss Register claims to be the world's largest private database of lost and stolen art, with more than 300,000 items.

Honours

Radcliffe was awarded an

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in 1999 and the QVRM in 2004 for activities unrelated to his work at the Art Loss Register.

Personal life

Radcliffe lives near

Much Wenlock Much Wenlock is a market town and Civil parishes in England, parish in Shropshire, England; it is situated on the A458 road between Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth. Nearby, to the north-east, is the Ironbridge Gorge and Telford. The civil parish incl ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

. Radcliffe's favourite painting is ''A Cornfield'', 1815, by Peter De Wint, in the collection of the V&A, London.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Radcliffe, Julian 1948 births Alumni of New College, Oxford Living people People educated at Eton College Businesspeople from Shropshire Officers of the Order of the British Empire