Martin started as an office boy at Christie's in 1897, working his way up the ranks during a tenure spanning more than six decades.
[1] Knighted in 1934, Martin held a number of posts in the cultural landscape of the British Isles, as a trustee of the Wallace Collection and honorary secretary of the National Art Collections Fund (now known as the Art Fund).
He also served as a governor of the National Gallery of Ireland, securing an important addition to its collections by persuading his friend Hugh Lane to make a bequest.
[2] He was a friend and executor of Walter Sickert, and he commissioned him in 1935 to paint portraits of himself,[3] his wife[4] and youngest son Claude[5] (all now Tate Britain [clarification needed]).
[1] His grandson is the art historian Gregory Martin (born 1938), who worked at the National Gallery and at Christie's.