Sir Lionel Henry Cust KCVO FSA (25 January 1859 – 12 October 1929) was a British art historian, courtier and museum director.
[1] In 1884 he joined the British Museum's Department of Prints and Drawings, at the suggestion of the Keeper Sidney Colvin.
Unusually for a British scholar of his time, Cust had a predilection for the artistic schools of Northern Europe, not those of Italy.
During Cust's directorship the Gallery moved to its current premises on St Martin's Place in London.
Upon the accession of King Edward VII in 1901, Cust was appointed a Gentleman Usher[3] and Surveyor of Pictures in Ordinary to His Majesty,[4] and kept both positions until 1927.