A kneeling woman looking up over her left shoulder, holding a shawl to her eyes with her right hand.

Ottley Group

How to join

Email: patrons@britishmuseum.org
Phone: +44 (0)20 7323 8421
Or get in touch using our form

The Ottley Group makes an annual donation to the Department of Prints and Drawings in support of the acquisition of Old Master and English drawings.

If you're passionate about Old Master and English drawings, we invite you to join an engaged group of like-minded supporters.

  • ​​​​​​Ottley Members generously make an annual gift of £3,450
    • Benefit value: £450
    • Suggested donation: £3,000+
    • The donation portion goes towards the Department of Prints and Drawings in support of Old Master drawings acquisitions.

To become part of an exclusive circle of vital supporters, please contact us today.

Benefits include:

  • Invitations to the annual Patrons' Open House.
  • Invitations to select events related to the Ottley Group's area of support.
  • The opportunity to take part in the Patrons' international travel programme, led by Museum curators – past trips have included Jordan, Peloponnese Greece, St Petersburg, Sicily and Iran.*
  • Early morning views of all major exhibitions.
  • Unlimited free entry to all paying exhibitions for you and a guest throughout the year.
  • 10% discount at the Museum's shops, cafés and restaurant.
  • Regular mailings keeping you up-to-date on Museum activities.
  • Acknowledgement in the Museum's Annual review.

*Available at an extra cost and subject to availability.

Ottley Group

The Department of Prints and Drawings contains the national collection of Western prints and drawings and is one of the best collections of its kind in the world.

There are about 50,000 drawings and more than two million prints dating from the beginning of the 15th century up to the present day.

Members of the Ottley Group make an annual donation to the department in support of the acquisition of Old Master and English drawings.

The Ottley Group is named in honour of William Young Ottley (1771–1836) who was an amateur artist, pioneering scholar and collector as well as a former Keeper of the Department of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum.

Discover more about works funded with the Ottley Group's support.

Other Special Interest Groups...

  • Concentric circles made up of cut-up, printed prayers and small blue squares on linen.

    CaMMEA Group

    £4,000 annually – CaMMEA supports the Museum's growing collection of more than 200 established and emerging artists from the Middle East.

Get in touch

Join this engaged group of supporters, we'd be delighted to hear from you.


We will process your personal data because we need to in order to provide you with the information you have requested from us. Your personal data will only be used by us to communicate with you about your request for Patrons information and we will only share it for this purpose. We will keep your personal data just for as long as we need it to process your request and we will delete it following the completion of the response.

Please see our Privacy policy for more details about how we use your personal data and about your rights or contact the Museum’s Data Protection Officer at Compliance@britishmuseum.org, telephone 020 7323 8000.