Christopher Paul Hadley Brown, CBE (born 15 April 1948) is a British art historian and academic. He was director of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England from 1998 to 2014. He is recognised as an authority on Sir Anthony van Dyck.
Brown was born on 15 April 1948, in Tangier, Morocco. His father flew Spitfires during World War II and joined civil aviation in the post war period, flying for Gibraltar Airways and British European Airways. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, an all-boys public school in Hertfordshire. He then matriculated into St Catherine's College, Oxford to study history. In 1966, he graduated from the University of Oxford with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Modern History. This was later promoted to Master of Arts (MA Oxon) as per tradition. He remained at St Catherine's to complete a Diploma in Art History. He then undertook post-graduate research at the Courtauld Institute of Art and completed his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree.
From 1971 to 1998, he worked at the National Gallery, London; first as Curator of 17th-century Dutch and Flemish paintings, eventually as Chief Curator. He was appointed director of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford in 1998 and it was largely due to him that the museum, especially the front part, was rebuilt.
Brown sits on the Prix Pictet advisory board.
In the 2011 New Year Honours, Brown was appointed commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) 'for services to museums'.
He is an honorary fellow of his alma mater St Catherine's College, Oxford.
—— (1972). Dutch Townscape Painting (Themes and painters in the National Gallery). National Gallery. ISBN 090179144X.
—— (1975). Bruegel. Phaidon. ISBN 0714816639.
—— (1976). Dutch Painting. Phaidon. ISBN 0714816914.
—— (1977). Burgundy. Batsford. ISBN 0713408898. (co-author with Anthony Turner)
—— (1978). Dutch Townscape Painting (Themes and painters in the National Gallery) (2 ed.). National Gallery.
—— (1980). Rembrandt – The Complete Paintings (2 vols). Granada. ISBN 0586051341.
—— (1981). Carel Fabritius – Complete Edition with a Catalogue Raisonne. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0801413940.
—— (1982). Van Dyck. Phaidon Press Ltd. ISBN 978-0714822112.
—— (1984). Scenes of Everyday Life – Seventeenth-Century Dutch Genre Painting. Ashmolean Museum. ISBN 1854441264.
—— (1987). Flemish Paintings (The National Gallery schools of painting). National Gallery Company Ltd. ISBN 978-0947645410.
—— (1991). Anthony Van Dyck: Drawings. Thames & Hudson Ltd. ISBN 978-0500092248.
—— (1991). Rembrandt : the master & his workshop. New Haven. ISBN 0300051506.