Michael Levey

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This article is about the British art historian. For the American television personality, see Mike Levey

Sir Michael Vincent Levey LVO (born 1927) is a British art historian and former director of the National Gallery, London. Shortly after graduating from Exeter College, Oxford in 1950 he joined the National Gallery as an Assistant Keeper. In 1954, he married the novelist and critic Brigid Brophy. Levey's approach to art history was already considered backward-looking by the 1960s, but he was nonetheless appointed Slade Professor of Fine Art at both Oxford (1963–64) and Cambridge (1994–95) universities. He served as Director of the National Gallery for 13 years, from 1973 to 1986.

In 1962, Levey produced the book A Concise History of Painting: From Giotto to Cézanne in Thames & Hudson's World of Art series (ISBN 0500200246). This remains a classic overview of European art history from the introduction of perspective in Italy to the beginnings of modern art at the start of the 20th century.

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