Institutions, not galleries.

The career runs through institutions: conservator of medieval collections at Belgium’s Royal Museum of the Armed Forces; head of conservation for heritage institutes in Scotland, Turkey and Belgium; Director of Conservation for the world’s deepest commercial shipwreck recovery, at 4,700 metres; Deputy Director of Singapore’s Heritage Conservation Centre — the centralised facility preserving the national collections of nine public museums, with a staff of 40; and Senior Manager building third-party forensic art inspection for SGS Art Services in the Chinese art market.

Every chapter is institutional. That is precisely why the advisory is independent — no gallery years, no auction-house years, no dealer relationships to protect.

Education and certification.

• Master in Conservation — Hogeschool Antwerpen, Belgium, 2000
• Postgraduate Certificate in Art Crime & Cultural Heritage Protection — ARCA, Italy, 2015
• Bachelor of Cultural Studies — EVTEK Institute, Finland, 2002
• SVQ Level 4 Management — Scottish Qualifications Authority, 2006
• Certified Management Drives Trainer & Leadership Coach

Twenty-five years, five continents.

• 2007–present — Consultant and, 2008–2014, Director of Conservation, Odyssey Marine Exploration, USA
• 2017–present — Global Technical Partner, ArtTrust, Shanghai
• 2017–2021 — Senior Manager, SGS Art Services, Shanghai & Beijing
• 2014–2015 — Deputy Director of Conservation, Heritage Conservation Centre, Singapore
• 2006–2008 — Head of Conservation, VIOE Flemish Heritage Institute, Belgium
• 2005–2006 — Head of Conservation, AOC Archaeology, Scotland
• 2003–2004 — Head of Conservation, Institute for Nautical Archaeology, Bodrum, Turkey
• 2002–2003 — Conservator, Museum Vleeshuis, Antwerp, Belgium
• 2001 — Conservation Research, National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh
• 1996–2000 — Conservator, Medieval Collections, Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History, Belgium

The network behind the practice.

Where a mandate requires specialist counsel — restitution law, fine-art insurance, museum security, antiquities forensics — Holmes draws on the international ARCA network of art crime professionals: alumni and faculty including former Scotland Yard Art Squad leadership, Carabinieri cultural heritage command, Holocaust-restitution historians and senior fine-art insurance specialists — among them museum-security consultant Ibrahim Bulut (ARCA lecturer; speaker, Smithsonian National Conference on Cultural Property Protection), on whom Holmes can call for collection security and risk assessment.

In Asia, Frederick is a Global Network partner of ArtTrust, Shanghai — China’s leading art conservation company and conservation partner to Sotheby’s, Gagosian and the Centre Pompidou × West Bund Museum project.

In their words.

Full reference letters available on request — enquire here.