A portrait drawing of Neil MacGregor; head and shoulders, with his face turned slightly to the left; signed and dated, lower right; signed by the sitter, lower left.

Neil MacGregor is an art historian and museum curator, former Director of the National Gallery (1987-2002) and the British Museum (2002-2015). He was appointed to the Order of Merit in 2010. His portrait is drawn by James Lloyd, who studied at Coventry School of Art and the Slade School of Fine Art, and won the BP Portrait Award in 1997.

The Order of Merit was founded on the Coronation of King Edward VII in 1902 and recognises exceptional contributions to the arts and sciences. The Order is restricted to 24 members, each of whom is personally appointed by Her Majesty The Queen. In 1907, King Edward VII initiated a tradition of commissioning portraits of members of the Order of Merit by the artist William Strang, whose coloured chalk drawings on buff or pale pink paper consciously echo the Holbein drawings in the Royal Collection. The commissions fell into abeyance with the outbreak of the First World War, but the tradition was revived by The Queen in 1987. Portraits of newly appointed members of the Order of Merit continue to be commissioned and added to the Royal Collection.